Characters / Warframe - Grineer

Main Character Index | Tenno (Warframes A-M, Warframes N-Z) | Grineer | Corpus | Infested | Orokin | Void | Sentients | Syndicates | Colonies | Others

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Grineer

Tenno SKOOM!

"They say there is power in numbers - the Grineer are living proof. Wretched from centuries of cloning that has left their genetics in decay, this horde expands their vile empire through brute force, conquering anyone who tries to stop them."

—Warframe Official Website

One of the three biggest factions in Warframe, and the first enemy faction that the Tenno will encounter. The expansion of their militaristic, violent Empire across the Origin System through the raiding or conquest of peaceful colonies serves as the primary motivator of the Lotus' call to her slumbering warriors.

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Grineer in general

"Atusun Grineer! Tenno daryo no'ef! Gar argreogre'ef! Tu huscra'ef unsu natake no tosonias!"

—Grineer Queens Regulator Message (glory to the Queens)

A brutally militarized race of warriors, the imperialistic Grineer depend on cloning for reproduction, and so are slowly dying out due to Clone Degeneration so severe that they need extensive cybernetics to even function. Motivated by a fascist ideology centered around their own supremacy and loyalty to their Twin Queens, they are determined to destroy the Tenno, the only ones with any hope to stop them.

They rely on their heavy armor, numbers, dakka-spewing rifles, and careful deployment of specialized units such as Heavy Gunners or Shield Bearers to match the Tenno in battle. Due to extensive organ failure and decay from cloning, many of the Grineer are cybernetically augmented to some degree.

According to the codex entries, the Grineer were originally created as miners and workers who eagerly served the Orokin. However, when the Orokin first fought the Infested and later the Sentients, the Grineer were repurposed as soldiers in pure desperation, with the modifications that made them able to fight as soldiers leading to them rebelling. When the Tenno finally defeated the Sentients and turned on the Orokin, the Grineer gained their freedom and became one of the dominant powers in the Origin System in the ensuing power vacuum.

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• Amazon Brigade: The Grineer have both men and women serve in the frontline military, but notably their space fighter pilots seem to be exclusively women.
• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Despite their efficient construction techniques, cloning technology and cybernetics, the Grineer have never changed their desire for simple but effective ballistic weaponry. This may have been due to their repurposing as soldiers against the Sentients by the Orokin, as the Sentients were more vulnerable to primitive "zero-tech" weaponry compared to high-tech Orokin weapons.
• Artificial Human: The vast majority — if not entirety — of Grineer personnel are vat-grown clones, born from a hidden toxic womb. Helps explain how their leaders keep coming back no matter how often you kill them, and how they have so many mooks to throw at you.
• Attack Pattern Alpha: Grineer are fond of "Combat Formation Bravo", which apparently means "stand in front of the space ninjas and shoot at them".
• Artificial Limbs: Most have them, as the average Grineer is so deformed they'd die without them.
• The Beastmaster: It comes in flavors, such as the Hyekka Master and the Drahk Master.
• Body Horror
  • The "tubemen" on Uranus give us a glimpse of how badly the Grineer can degenerate. Special mention go to the Dreg pilots, who look like little more than a head atop a giant cancerous bulbous mass.
  • The Ghouls are even worse — they're failed, malnourished or underdeveloped clones with every corner cut in favor of rapid gestation. They look horrifying. Also, their blood is not just toxic, but it acts as a neuro-paralytic agent, which is reflected by it affecting you with both Cold and Toxin procs if you get splattered with it in melee.
• Cannot Dream: According to Kahl in one of his exchanges with Daughter, Grineer never dream.
• Catchphrase: "Glory to the Queens", "For the Queens" and "Tenno SKOOM!"
• Clone Army: The Grineer were originally a worker class to the Orokin, cloned to do more menial labor, but were later repurposed for military uses.
• Clone Degeneration: As copies of copies of copies, mass-produced on an industrial scale, many are born so deformed that it'd be impossible for them to survive without cybernetics, and have a lifespan of only a few decades, becoming more decrepit with age. As a result, the oldest Grineer are barely recognizable as human. Councilor Vay Hek, to use an example, has visibly flaking, dead-looking skin, and looks downright grotesque◊. This is not helped by them making clones out of already-made Grineer, which exacerbates the problems further and further. This is especially evident with the new intro shown at Tennocon 2019, where the original Grineer under the Orokin make an appearance... and don't look that different from a normal human.
• Composite Character: Every boss in this faction is fittingly a King Mook mash-up for two or more common enemies shown in the game so far; Captain Vor for the Seekers and Flameblades, General Sargas Ruk for the Scorches and Napalms, Tyl Regor for the Manics and Kela De Thaym for the Scorpions and Ballistas.
• Conlang: As of Update 10 they use a unique language that's largely made up of corruptions of English terms alongside completely original phrases and words.
• Creative Sterility: Somewhat.
  • The Grineer were designed to be able to do labor for the Orokin while not being smart enough to question orders, and this is subtly shown with their weaponry. Of the many, many weapons they have, exactly one (the Nukor) is both an energy weapon and definitely Grineer in origin (Vor's Seer pistol is explicitly a reverse engineered Orokin weapon). Additionally, most of their technology has a Used Future look, as if they've been recycling older tech instead of creating new designs.
  • That being said, the Grineer have a greater penchant for lateral thinking than the rest of their technology would suggest - the Buzlok fires homing bullets, while the Kohm is a magnetic induction based shotgun (though the devs have called it a plasma shotgun).
• Cute Monster: The Kuva Jesters under the Grineer Queens' command are basically smaller than Rollers. They're made specifically to make a Colossus Climb on you.
• Cyborg: The Grineer make heavy use of cybernetic augmentation to counter their degeneration. On most male Grineer this is covered by their heavy armor, but female Grineer and officers like Vor and Lech Kril display it as well. Vay Hek currently possesses the most extensive augmentation, being little more than a head stuck to a robotic chassis.
• Day of the Jackboot: First, the Grineer invaded Saturn, which used to be a prosperous (and possibly independent) trade planet, and publicly executed all resistance leaders. They instated their typical government, turning it into a foothold to control interplanetary traffic. This happened again with Mars, where they ultimately proved victorious, driving out the Corpus, and subjecting humanity on Mars to slavery and extermination, which was exacerbated by the fact that the Grineer were helped by the Tenno, under the promise that the former would help save Tenno in cryosleep that would otherwise be used by Alad V's Zanuka Project. Earlier with Mars (originally Phobos), they also showed up in the territory of the Martian Sand People and proceeded to murder every last one of them for living space, with only one survivor escaping the madness: Baro Ki'Teer.
• Diesel Punk: A Darker and Edgier version of it. Grineer designs looked rusty and caged-in, diesel engines are replaced with dirty fusion reactors, guns in general are bulbous and heavily gritted in 30's paint and logos, while reminiscences of Steampunk bulbs are hailed from spacecraft giving a sense that the Grineer is hideous and have no sense of individualism, especially being freed away from the much cleaner, yet very corrupt Orokin by the Sentients.
• Drone Deployer: While this Corpus are normally the ones who use robots, the Grineer get in on this as well:
  • Seekers can deploy latcher drones, which latch onto players, then explode.
  • Vay Hek can deploy drones that either buff his forces or call down artillery strikes on you.
  • Finally, several Tusk Grineer can deploy tusk seeker drones, which call in reinforcements on the Plains of Eidolon. This can range from just more Grineer, to group of Dargyn fighters, to Ogma Bombers, and even Tusk Bolkor gunships.
• Dying Race:
  • The Grineer are suffering slow but steady 'genetic decay' with each generation of clones. They face a race against time to find a cure for the degeneration; the intervention of the Tenno certainly can't be helping them much.
  • The comms on Tenno ships feature Grineer marines making breathy radio transmissions, which could be a result of the degeneration. The Grustrag Three have a particularly-difficult time speaking or breathing.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The Grineer were the first faction to get variants based upon which tileset they are faced on, and it shows - most of these new units are merely Palette Swaps of their existing forces. The exception are the Kuva Grineer (who get new weapons across the board and have unique units in the form of Kuva Guardians and Kuva Jesters) and the Tusk Grineer (who have new weapons and abilities to compliment being in an open-world environment — Heavy Gunners, for example, carry grattlers to shoot archwing-wielding Tenno out of the sky, while Bombards have mortar packs to attack from extremely long range with).
• Emergency Weapon: If struck with Loki's Radial Disarm or a thrown Halikar mace, Grineer forces will switch to using the Sheev knife.
• Enemy Mine: The Grineer make an alliance fleet with the Corpus and the Tenno to defend the Origin System from the invading Sentient armada in "The New War". Unfortunately, it is not enough.
• Elite Mook:
  • Grineer Heavy units use appropriately devastating weapons like the Gorgon machinegun or Ogris rocket launcher. There are also elite squadrons of Mooks like the Nightwatch and Kuva corps. Even basic footsoldiers in these squadrons use more powerful weaponry, like the Kohm and Hek shotguns or Drakgoon flak cannons.
  • For the Plains of Eidolon, there are the Ghouls — which are actually defective clones, except that their defects actually make them even more dangerous then normal ones. Every so often, a huge number of them will become active on the Plains, resulting in unique bounties becoming available in order to get rid of them. Unlike most Grineer Elites, Ghouls are melee units.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Grineer have both male and female units aplenty, and one of their most dangerous fighters is Kela De Thaym. Everything we see about their society says the Grineer primarily value meritocracy and jingoism. This places them in stark contrast to the Corpus, who have only one female unit, and who had no major female characters until Call of the Tempestaaari. The Kuva Liches also allow both male and female members, while the Sisters of Pavros only accept females.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The average Grineer seems to be averse to cheating, at least in a blatant and absurdly unfair manner - they don't show any concern with how lopsided the odds are for the defendent in Rathuum, but when Kela resorts to using a Kill Sat to take down the Tenno, her audience boos at her. Compounding this is a dislike for cowardice — Kela is also booed when she attempts to offer the Tenno the position of Rathuum Executioner, since it is obvious this is solely an attempt to get them to spare her.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: The original Grineer who were forced to fight by the Orokin, as seen in the "Awakening" Cinematic, aren't too bad on the eyes. The modern ones, by contrast, look repulsive due to Clone Degeneration, and their focus on conquering everybody else in the system hasn't made them popular with people who might be willing to fix said degeneration.
• Expendable Clone: Anyone that isn't in a position of power.
• Facial Horror: As shown in their faction image, the Grineer faces are heavily wrinkled, Covered with Scars and have eyes radiated in orange due to the effects of industrial cloning. This even extends further when their faces actually show expression that are in deep pain as they die in the hundreds of various ways of you managing to kill them. On a similar note, Ghouls have hideous faces even by Grineer standards — the Expired are skeletal, and the Augers don't even have eyelids.
• Final Solution: The basic objective of the Grineer, to eradicate everyone that is not them and repopulate the system with them.
• Full-Conversion Cyborg: The Grineer use cybernetics to make up for their Clone Degeneration, replacing failing organs piecemeal until there's very little of the original flesh left. It's often said that the Grineer are better at repairing broken bodies than they are at making them right in the first place.
• Glass Cannon: Most Grineer melee warriors like the Butcher, Powerfist or Flameblade crumple with ease under almost any attack... but if they connect with their superheated cleaver, powered gauntlet or burning axes respectively, a Critical Hit usually ensues, eating a large part of your shields or health.
• Godzilla Threshold: Arming the Grineer was, for the Orokin, as much of a desperation move as creating the Tenno. The Grineer Lancer Synthesis Imprint shows that many of the modern Grineer were soldiers descended from the genetic stock of Grineer workers who were tough enough to survive and fight off Sentient attacks.
• Guilt-Free Extermination War: Their depending mindset, especially when it is aimed at the Corpus.
• Human Resources: Grineer are dissolved in cloning tanks in order to produce more Grineer.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The Worm Queen's dialogue indicates that at least some dead Grineer are melted down into a protein paste and fed to others of their own kind. Lines from Steel Meridian Railjack crew confirm that the Grineer have some level of cannibalism, though the extent in specified (and the exact wording of said lines implies it's more of a desperation diet, rather than a major focus of their cuisine).
• Incredibly Durable Enemies: Even the basic Lancers and Troopers can eat a few bursts before going down if you don't go for the head, and the Heavies only make things worse, especially at higher levels.
• In-Series Nickname: Corpus seems to respect them as "dogs", due to their Undying Loyalty towards the Twin Queens. Grineer are also known to refer to themselves as maggots, though they have a reason for this - as noted by a Kuva Lich candidates, maggots eventually learn to fly.
• Irony: The Grineer's expired Ghouls are noted to be excellent shock troopers, as the rational parts of their mind succumbed to hunger or genetic defects during maturation, reducing them to animalistic monsters running solely on their backup nervous systems. Said ghouls are also the only ghouls used as rescue targets during a ghoul defector bounty on the Plains of Eidolon, implying those backup nervous systems are good enough to interfere with their suicidal tendencies.
• Lady Land: Downplayed. It's heavily implied that Grineer as a whole, due to having been ruled by the same female rulers for their entire existence as a state, is rather matriarchal in its power structure. Female soldiers are universally fitted with cyber-augmentations and wield better weapons than males. Additionally, female Kuva Liches are far more professional than males.
• Large and in Charge: Grineer bosses usually stand a head taller than the common grunts.
• Large Ham: Damn well every speaking Grineer utterly decimates the scenery (Vay Hek being the most prominent), regardless if it's in english or their own language.
• Mascot Mook: The humble Grineer Lancer is strongly associated with Warframe's marketing, and one of the most well-known enemies in the game. They're one of the most common enemies you'll face early on, and they remain usual suspects in many missions throughout the rest of the game, albeit often in differing variants.
• Mook Chivalry: You wish. This is the first faction that was made into the game and is astoundingly intelligent in taking and making use of covers, piloting turrets and attacking you in large groups where everything traditional in RPG gets swatted back at your face. Heck, sending giants, like a Napalm, will only continue their assault against you.
• More Dakka: The basis of many of their weapons — the Sobek, Grakata, Gorgon, Viper, and Stubba, to name a few.
• Our Liches Are Different: The Grineer can utilize Kuva to create Kuva Liches — immortal warriors that can steal the powers of warframes and use them to grow stronger. Permanently killing them requires the usage of the Parazon.
• Praetorian Guard: The Kuva Guardians, introduced in The War Within, are the personal guards of the Queens and are much tougher than the typical Grinner soldier.
• Punch-Clock Villain:
  • Some of them are mere customs agents, trying to uphold the laws of the Grineer Empire as best as they can.
  • Defective clones that lack genetically-conditioned loyalty to the Queens can occur with some regularity, and at least some of them (like the Kavor pacifists) are implied to be forced to take part in wartime atrocities they wanted no part in, with incineration being the only alternative.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Most Grineer have black eyeballs with warm-colored (yellow, red, orange) pupils. In some cases, they glow.
• Resurrective Immortality: Given the existence of the Kuva Liches, it's possible the Grineer Bosses have a similar system they use to keep coming back after apparently being killed off. This would at least explain why Lech Kril must be fought on Ceres, despite being slain on Mars.
• Rock Beats Laser: Generlly speaking, Grineer equipment and security countermeasures are, on average, better than their Corpus equivalents. Given that the Twin Queens are former Orokin Executors, it's likely that they known which technology works best at inhibiting the Tenno. The Corpus, meanwhile, have limited knowledge on the Tenno due to trapping Parvos Granum in the Void during an assassination attempt, and thus went with what worked best against everyone else.
• Shoulders of Doom: Even their women have them.
• Slave Race: The Orokin created the first Grineer as an easily-controlled slave race.
• Sub-Par Supremacist: Grineer insist that they're the supreme race, a copy of "perfection" — but their bodies are in such disarray that they would die without their extensive cybernetic augmentations. However, this doesn't stop them from maintaining an empire that spans the Origin System.
• The Usual Adversaries: The Grineer are the most common enemy the Tenno will face over the course of the storyline - not only do they occupy roughly half of the Origin System, but the vast majority of the story events in the game have the Grineer involved in some form or another.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Their propaganda demonizes the Orokin and claims they are completely rid of their influence, but never reveals that the Twin Queens themselves are of the Orokin bloodline, using Grineer cloning to create new bodies for themselves for multiple generations.
• Touched by Vorlons: Tyl Regor's dialogue during the "Natah" mission indicates that the Sentients freed them from Orokin control, instigating the rebellion and eventual creation of the Grineer Empire. This is a bit subverted in The War Within when the Queens are revealed to be Orokin themselves.
• Trial by Combat: The Rathuum Court of Kela de Thaym, in which the guilty must face Executioners in live arena combat to prove their innocence. In practice, it's more or less a Kangaroo Court used to keep the pawns in line. However, an obscure rule allows the defendant to call someone to fight for their defense, which leads to Cressa Tal asking the Tenno for help.
• Underground Monkey: Most Grineer infantry fall into one of five basic classes. These all receive Palette Swaps, some with a few added details and/or alternate equipment, depending on where you are in the Origin System. For instance, you'll be fighting Arid Lancers on Phobos, Frontier Lancers on Earth, and Tusk Lancers on the Plains of Eidolon.
• Undying Loyalty: Most Grineer have a gene that induces this. A few are born without it, though, which is why the Steel Meridian exists.
• We Are as Mayflies: The common Grineer laborers have a lifespan measured in only a few decades, and only the ones who prove to be either very compliant or high-performing get the cybernetic modifications to let them survive for longer. The most effective, powerful, and wealthy Grineer get cloned body parts and heavy-duty augmentations that can render them virtually immortal.
• We Can Rebuild Him: The backstory notes that most Grineer are born so deformed that they would not survive without heavy augmentations. It's also noted that Grineer are better at fixing things than creating them.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Grokdul, a normally benign substance according to the Lotus (although the item description says it's a "noxious mix of polysaccharides and long-chain polymers") is toxic to gestating Grineer Ghouls, making it the most efficient weapon to purging mass Ghoul burial sites. If the Ghoul is mature, though, Grokdrul will just make them angry and provoke them into exiting their warrens to attack you.
• We Have Reserves: Being a clone race, the Grineer can raise armies very quickly indeed, as is reflected by the wave after wave of troops the average Tenno will slice through in a single mission (their reaction to Extermination missions is essentially "mark site for repopulation".) Unfortunately for the Grineer, their weapon and armor tech is so primitive compared to Tenno technology that a single Tenno can wipe out an entire legion of Grineer troops singlehandedly. This is not helped by their severe Clone Degeneration, which the Tenno have probably directly contributed to by wiping out billions of them.

High Ranking Grineer

Captain Vor

"Another dead Tenno!"

Voiced by: Kol Crosbie

"Foolish Tenno, do you realize your Lotus has sent you to die?"

The first boss of the game, Vor is the Grineer officer tasked by the Queens with locating and exterminating the Tenno before they awake. He is responsible for awakening the player character from stasis in an Orokin structure on Earth, and attaching the Ascaris restraining device on them in an attempt to capture them for experimentation. The player character has to eliminate him in order to disable the Ascaris.

He is faced on Mercury and as a dual boss on Ceres. Initially, the Lotus targeted him due to suspicion of his possessing powerful Orokin artifacts.

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• A Father to His Men: Update 14 shows that he cares deeply for his men, calling them his "sons" and gets increasingly pissed as the Tenno cuts through his forces.
• The Artifact: As Corrupted Vor, almost everything about him is out of date with Warframe's current canon when he goes into speeches about his Janus Key. Not only is the Void now freely traversable, void keys are completely removed from the game and are completely ignored in the lore, leaving newer players to wonder just what he's ranting about whenever he mentioned the Janus Key.
• Benevolent Boss: He wants the Tenno not so he can make them a weapon, but to reverse the clone degradation among his Grineer minions. Indeed, he truly cares for his men, who he refers to as his sons, and unlike most of the other Grineer bosses, is legitimately upset when the Tenno cuts them down. It's also stated that he blessed Executioner Nok to leave military service to spend his days as an executioner in Rathuum.
• Bolivian Army Ending: At the end of the Ghouls comic miniseries his army is smashed, his soldiers corrupted, the Tenno he tried to capture had escaped and he is stuck on the Orokin ship he wanted to take over, surrounded by vicious Infested. In the last frame we see of him, he's Defiant to the End. Impressively enough, he somehow managed to survive and get off that ship, since the comic takes place prior to the start of the game.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: His assurance that the Ascaris he plants on the player Tenno is a checkmate, and that Lotus could do nothing more for them, results in Vor walking out of the awakening chamber with his leftover forces to contain the Tenno. The instant he's gone, Lotus overloads the Tenno's Warframe, giving them the chance to fight back and escape as his plans go up in smoke shortly thereafter. If he had personally bothered to contain the Tenno himself, given that he's invulnerable in the tutorial, the game would've been over before it began.
• Came Back Strong: His Corrupted form, fought in the Void after killing his original self, is much higher-level than his previous form.
• Came Back Wrong: The first time you fight Vor, he gets blown up in half. When you meet him again later in the Void, half of his upper torso is connected by a beam of energy to his lower one, and he's lost his mind, babbling on and on about the Janus Key and the purity of the Void.
• Close-Range Combatant: Before Update 9's revamp.
• Create Your Own Hero: It's through his actions and attaching the Ascaris to the player character that he is defeated in short-term afterwards, before the player gets to run loose on the rest of the Grineer.
• Death Seeker: Update 14 reveals that the reason he's so obsessed with the Tenno is because he wants to use them to reverse the Grineer's clone degradation so he can finally die for good.
• Degraded Boss: Before the revamp in Update 9, he was the template for the Flameblades.
• Dual Boss: He fights alongside Lech Kril in Ceres.
• Dynamic Difficulty: After Update 9, his health and damage scales with the levels on the players' Warframe and weapons. For a while, this could push his level past 100, making him extremely hard to kill and equally deadly.
• Energy Being: He becomes one after being resurrected and transported to the Void.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In the comic, he expresses distaste with ransacking the Ostron villages and slaughtering any who resist—if only because it's a waste of time.
• Evil Old Folks: His post-Update 9 appearance is visibly aged. In the PS4 trailer he is addressed as "Old Man" by a Grineer officer. His facial features also look more human than said officers, implying less degeneration and an earlier generation.
• Flunky Boss: One of his attacks is to hide behind an energy shield and warp-in reinforcements.
• Hypocrite: He tells you to fight with honour, then summons flunkies, teleports around the arena, uses mines and generally doesn't practice what he preaches. Then again, the moment he gets close to a Tenno it's generally over for him.
• Infallible Babble: As Corrupted Vor. If you progress through the game's quest you will realize that he's surprisingly aware and on point about some of the twists in the game's lore. Such as the Tenno being led by an impostor who is a stranger to the Void.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: He has a rather long speech he recites whenever he spawns in a Void mission. It is very likely someone with a powerful gun will kill him nigh-instantly. He still keeps talking long after his death, with a couple of lines added on to the end with him remarking that death does not faze him. It is played straight in the Undercroft, as his speech gets cut off if he dies.
• Love Freak: He lives for the love of the Queens, and to be loved by his Grineer children and grandchildren.
• Love Makes You Evil: Loving the Grineer Queens, of all people, has changed him for the worse.
• The Musketeer: After Update 9, he has a Seer pistol for range and a Cronus for melee.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Vor had a firm idea of using a Tenno to try to reverse-engineer their divine blood so that a cure for the Clone Degradation of his species can be developed. But the Twin Queens wanted all Tenno to be killed on-sight for a reason, and as his brief moment of Bond Villain Stupidity demonstrates, awakening the player Tenno was a horrible mistake as they're now let loose to slaughter all evil across the Origin system, especially his own allies.
• Pet the Dog: Most of the Rathuum Executioners were sent to serve under Kela as punishment for a failure of some sort, usually by one of other Grineer bosses. Executioner Nok, however, served Vor with distinction and apparently asked to go to Rathuum due to his Clone Degradation making him unfit for the front lines. Vor sent him over with his blessing.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's much more resilient and powerful than any of his soldiers, and significantly smarter. And if the Ghouls comics are any indication, Vor made it out alive from an Orokin Derelict filled with Infested and Corrupted all alone after the portal he came through was closed.
• Recurring Boss: Fought five times over the course of the game; first in the tutorial, again on Mercury and Ceres, and finally as Corrupted Vor in the Void and Duviri.
• Resurrective Immortality: After he was cut down by the Tenno, the Janus Key transported him to the Void and revived him as Corrupted Vor. Going by his own comments, Vor is now an Energy Being and no matter how many times he is killed, he will simply reform some time later. When encountered in the Duviri Undercroft, Vor mentions that his body will eventually harden, but he's not too concerned about it since there is a wall of bone waiting for him to join it.
• Ring of Power: Vor's special abilities largely stem from his (possibly damaged or modified) Orokin Void Key.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: His quest to help repair the damaged genes of his troops ends in failure with his first death and following Void corruption, but his method of using Tenno blood would have ended in failure as well due to their incompatible biologies. The Warframes are made of a particular tamed strain of Infestation, and the Operators themselves were far out of his reach at the time.
• Starter Villain: He's the villain of the tutorial questline that teaches you the basics, though he makes appearances later on.
• Took a Level in Badass: At one point, he was both the lowest and highest level boss in the game, as Captain Vor and Corrupted Vor respectively.
• Turns Red: If you damage him enough, he'll throw out Nervos mines to act like Vauban's Tesla. Bring him even closer to death and he starts using his Void Key as a Wave-Motion Gun.
• Villain Teleportation: In his earlier incarnation, Vor liked to teleport behind you if you got too far away. Now he'll teleport closer (though rarely into melee) or away from you as the situation demands.
• Villainous Valor: In the Ghouls comic has several moments that reveal a sense of honor rather uncharacteristic for a Grineer. He's still fanatically devoted to his Queens, loyal to his soldiers and willing to murder scores of civillians, but he is also willing to negotiate and accept surrender, and seems to have a sort of grudging respect for his enemies, which are things other Grineer officers rarely display.
• Worthy Opponent: Certainly seems to see the Tenno (and the Lotus) as this, both in the comic and the game.
• You Have Failed Me: He used to be Admiral Vor, but was demoted to Captain after disobeying the Queens by capturing the player Tenno instead of killing them, and thus allowing them to escape.

Councilor Vay Hek

"The first Grineer who brings me the head of a Tenno will be permitted... TO WEAR ITS SKULL AS A HELMET!"

Voiced by: James Atkins

"I knew this day would come. I prepared, changed myself. I made sacrifices! Tenno... are you ready for a SACRIFICE!?"

The boss of Earth. A corrupt diplomat who has assassinated multiple political opponents, Vay Hek serves as the Grineer Propaganda Minister and is behind a number of very dangerous projects, including the Grustrag Three death squad and the growing fleet of Balor Fomorian warships, which he plans to use to conquer the Origin System.

Targeted for assassination by the Lotus as he is a hindrance to the stability of the system. Drops blueprints for Hydroid.

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• Admiring the Abomination: Upon seeing an Eidolon Teralyst for the first time, he shows shades of this before ordering his men to attack.
  "It's... beautiful... it's so beautiful... KILL IT."
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Lotus suspects that Councilor Vay Hek obtained his position through violent elimination of his political rivals. Whether one of those rivals included his predecessor is never mentioned.
• Blood Knight: A clear token among councilors, which is usually a boring job, whose personality is basically a mirror-reflection of the same villain stereotype since World War II, lavishes a lot of screaming while killing out other parties to prove his Grineer-ness for his queens.
• Body Horror: After Update 13, his body has been... changed. He's now basically a head attached to the body of a giant robot. Also, if you look closely, you can see his lips are blue, likely due to extended cyanosis (blue tint due to a lack of oxygen)
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Prior to Update 13, apart from his nonstandard gun, looked like a Lancer at first glance.
• Catchphrase: "MAGGOTS!"
• Chewing the Scenery: Good lord, where do we begin? Just... look at Large Ham below.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Played for Dark Comedy. He once was a more approachable Grineer when he proposed his ascendancy as the commander of the Grineer Ghouls. Considering his first debut to the high ranks was immediately with the Grineer Queens, his play as a host got his superiors insulted (the queens told him that he said 'hello' to guests out of rank order, and should have started with them). He then gets humiliated and literally mutilated for his efforts, all a while getting his Ghoul project approved regardless.
• Dramatic Pause: The taunting speech that he delivers in the third bullet point under Large Ham is positively littered with dramatic pauses, making the already overdramatic monologue sound even hammier.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Explicitly calls off Kahl from trying to attack a Condrix during "The New War", as the Condrix will probably just be unaffected and eat the poor lancer. He only relents when Kahl asks what would happen if the Condrix's food was a bomb, since that might actually work.
• Evil Laugh: "Ho hah hah HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!"
• From Nobody to Nightmare: To a certain extent. He was once a lowly Councilor mocked by other Grineer, killed off while presenting the Ghouls. He was only kept alive by Doctor Tengus on the Queens' order because they found him amusing. Now he's one of the highest-ranked Grineer with the most sway and presence and a constant threat to the Tenno.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss:
  • A very tough boss, almost legitimately in every way, but shooting his head will likely to make him pull his butt closer to the Boss Room and is the only thing you could possibly be doing in order to make him fly out of the planet.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Vay Hek has an extremely short fuse and can go off at any given moment. His temper is so volatile that it's rare to see moments where he isn't screaming at everyone around him.
• The Heavy: Most Grineer-related plot threads in the game — Fomorian Invasions, Ghouls, the Cicero Crisis, and his personal command of the Tusk Grineer that roam the Plains of Eidolon, the poisoning of the Infested Boil during Operation Plague Star — involve him in some way, and he's usually the most vocally opposed to the Tenno.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: It's revealed that he lost most of his body parts after being eaten alive by his own Ghouls.
• Humongous Mecha: The final stage of his boss battle has him attach his smaller, drone-like body into a gigantic and agile mech covered in weaponry. Ironically, this actually makes him more vulnerable than before thanks to this new body not having invulnerable armor like his other body.
• Hypocrite: Listen when he says that the Orokin plants on Earth are "Genetically modified monstrosities", then look back and ask why his face looks like it came out of a belt-sander and what's left of him. It also doubles out as Hypocritical Humor when he insults the Tenno as "Maggots" when he appears to be more accurately portrayed than his victims in question.
• I Was Quite a Looker: His old self in The Ascension made him more approachable than his other Butcher comrades, but was immediately turned into one of the most grotesque Grineer who has ever sat in power.
• Large Ham: Damn near everything that Vay Hek says is delivered in a loud and bombastic manner.
  "TENNO ARE WORSE THAN WEEEEEEEEDS!"
  "TENNO BONES WILL MAKE GRINEER HOMES!"
• Laughably Evil: While he is by no means adorable or reasonably fair in any way, he is arguably the both most hated and most amusing boss in the Grineer empire due to his bombastic personality and a knack of gory violence. Getting a spotlight in the Plains of Eidolon doesn't help get rid of his unusual moments.
  Councilor Vay Hek: [after seeing an Eidolon Teralyst] It's beautiful. It's so beautiful... [Beat] KILL IT.
• Losing Your Head: Having most parts of his body composed of machinery, the only visible parts that can be seen moving organically are his head and his surprisingly long spinal cord. His comic debut in the Ascension directs to what have caused his complete mutilation.
• Mighty Glacier: Prior to Update 13, he was slow but with a shotgun (The Hek) that could quickly ruin your day.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: Make the following substitutions: "Orokin weeds" for "Jews", "Tenno" for "Communists", "herbicide" for "genocide", "homes" for "lebensraum", "Cicero toxin" for "final solution".
• Nightmare Fetishist: He's... very enthusiastic about the Ghouls, referring to them as his "fantasies made flesh." That he still views them this way after they ate most of his body says a lot about his mental state.
• No Indoor Voice: While he was already loud, it's taken up a notch post-update 13.
• Pitiful Worms: His Catchphrase has him refer to the tenno as "MAGGOTS!!!"
• Pragmatic Villainy: While he will gladly sacrifice his own troops by the thousands to achieve victory, he will not do so without a plan. He initially vetos Kahl's suggestion to try attacking a Condrix in "The New War" because the latter will just get eaten by it. It's only after Kahl suggests having it eat a bomb that Hek relents.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The New War shows that, for all of his flaws, Hek is willing to listen to advice from his subordinates and offer praise when they come up with workable solutions to problems. Additionally, when Kahl prepares to undertake a Suicide Mission to destroy a Condrix via a Suicide Attack, Hek is impressed with Kahl's thinking and assures Kahl that his brothers will be able to escape.
• Retcon: Before the comic established how he got to his current state, it was implied (and still is implied, as the voice lines were not changed after the comic release) through his boss fight dialogue that he changed himself voluntarily, preparing for when the Tenno eventually come for him.
• Sanity Slippage: After Grineer Ghouls ate most of his body, he went a bit off the deep end. Interestingly enough, they're still just about the only living things he shows any affection towards.
• Suddenly Voiced: As of the Cicero event, though his boss fight taunts were still Speaking Simlish for a time even after he received his visual redesign.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Usually has this attitude in regards to the soldiers under his commands, frequently insulting and threatening them for failing to stop the Tenno.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: Post-Update 13, his body is heavily armoured to the point that attacks will do no damage... until he raises his faceplate to scream propaganda at you.
• Too Dumb to Live: During Operation Plague Star, Hek orders the Grineer on the Plains of Eidolon to ignore the infested boil on the plains so that it can wipe out Cetus. To clarify, the boil is the size of a rather large house and is sending out a horde of Body Horror Technically Living Zombies that, at their most dangerous, can control entire ships, and are pretty much unstoppable if allowed to fester. Worse still, he has all of the materials needed to, if not kill the boil, then at least force it into dormancy, and yet he doesn't — he wants Cetus destroyed that badly.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Drop Vay Hek down to 10% health and he just up and flies away, still very much alive and dangerous. This happens in both his boss fight on Earth and in Law of Retribution. Lotus somehow still considers this a "successful assassination".
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: By the end of Archwing.
  Councilor Vay Hek: Frohd Bek! Consider our contracts canceled! THIS... IS A HOSTILE TAKE OVER!!!

General Sargas Ruk

"You Tenno, you fight for treasure. You are just another Corpus machine to me!"

Voiced by: Kol Crosbie

"You think you are guardians? Grineer rule supreme! Grineer protect all!"

The boss of Saturn. Sargas Ruk is the top artifact hunter in of the Grineer, a profession which he uses to feed his addiction to cybernetic augmentation. He is also one of the people responsible for the infamous Gravidus Dilemma, in which he and Alad V went to war over a cache of Tenno found in hibernation on Mars. Drops blueprints for Ember.

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• Arch-Enemy: To Cressa Tal from the Steel Meridian syndicate. The conflict between her and Ruk is a very personal one, since she used to be his direct subordinate before she defected from the Grineer.
• Arm Cannon: His Update 11 incarnation has one on his right arm.
• Ascended Meme: Greedy Milk, community brewed fantasy asset for Ruk out of the simplicity of how incompatible this word is in a sentence dedicated for war. It becomes a Creator's Favorite among the developers' discussions, but never actually implemented though.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In the end of 'The Pyrus Project', he and his Grineer army invade the newly built relay, forcing the Tenno to come and retake the relay from him.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He was promoted to General for his role in the conquest of Saturn.
• Berserk Button:
  • Disloyalty and treason are this for him. He despises and denounces the Grustrag Three for their history of teamkilling, and he goes out of his way to track down and kill Kavor Grineer soldiers who have defected from him.
  • Cressa Tal, his former underling, is apparently such a massive one for him that he is willing to utilise the Grustrag Three (who he also hates) against her.
• Blood Knight: Fittingly for a Grineer general, he loves war and fighting. Which is why Kavor, who defected from his army to pursue life of peace infuriate him so much.
• Blunt Metaphors Trauma: Famous for using body parts in sentences that don't quite make sense. And he really likes the word "crush".
  "Now we crush the greedy milk from their skulls!"
  "Alad will bleed from his selfish eyes as I crush him with your metal corpse."
  "What flesh is within that Warframe? I will crush it. I will fill my lungs with your death!"
  "Trust me, you will bleed regret."
  "Your betrayal breathes fire into my soul!"
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Before Update 11, he looked like a Bombard, though he was still presented as a full-on boss.
• Cyber Cyclops: Update 10.5 has him wearing a face mask with a single glowing "eye".
• Enemy Mine: Defied. During Ground Assaults in Operation Scarlet Spear, he will occasionally offer for the Grineer and Tenno to join forces against the Sentients, only to immediately burst out laughing and asserting that will never happen.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He was not happy when Hek decided to "rehabilitate" the Grustrag Three. A message to Hek implies the Three killed soldiers under his command.
• Friendly Enemy: At the end of the Gradivus Dilemma, siding with the Grineer makes Sargas welcome you with a friendly message and a powerful shotgun pistol that you would gladly use to kill him and his army. Not so much in Scarlet Spear 7 years later.
• Having a Blast: The majority of Ruk's abilities cause nasty explosions to the players' faces. One of them involves small but plentiful volcanic eruptions that deals deathly damage to anyone moving at a snail pace.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His pre-Update 11 incarnation could invoke this on players with the Reversal Field, which acts like Mag's Bullet Attractor.
• Insane Troll Logic: During the Operation Scarlet Spear when he sees the Tenno and the Sentients in one scene he concludes that they are allies and attacks.
• In-Series Nickname: Alad V calls him a "test tube dog".
• It's Personal: He was really pissed off by Cressa Tal's betrayal of him.
• More Dakka: Before Update 11, used a Gorgon machine gun.
• Noble Demon: The only Grineer boss who seem to have some notion of honour on his mind. During Gradivus Dillema he was welcoming and supportive of you and your skills if you sided with him, and appealed to your sense of honour if you sided with Corpus. When you come to kill him on Saturn he also appeals to your honour and sense of worth, and as you damage him enough admits that you fight well. His letter to councilor Vay Hek, chiding him for creating the Grustrag Three, reveal that Ruk also despises traitors and those who turn against their own.
• Playing with Fire: His Update 11 incarnation uses fire moves, including a flamethrower, and ripoffs of Ember's "Fire Blast" and "World On Fire".
• Puzzle Boss: After Update 11, you need to wait for him to expose his weak points after attacking before you can harm him.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • If you support the Corpus against him during the Gradivus Dilemma, he will call you out as willing to sacrifice your own and die for a worthless cause.
  • After Update 11, one of the lines he can deliver in his boss mission has him calling you a mercenary and asking what happened to the Tenno sense of honour. Another one calls you as fighting for treasure and another Corpus machine.
• Shoulders of Doom: His post-Update 11 left pauldron is gigantic.Justified in that it seems to house some kind of exhaust/cooling system.
• Speaking Simlish: Noticeably averted by his Update 11 incarnation, which speaks to you in English. This started with the Gradivus Dilemma.
• Turns Red: His Update 11 incarnation has three phases, each with added moves and a different weakspot.
• Unexplained Recovery: You kill him on Saturn, but he shows up again during Operation: Scarlet Spear regardless.
• We ARE Struggling Together: During the Operation: Scarlet Spear he orders his troops attack both the Tenno and the Sentients, hampering your efforts. This is despite the fact that the Sentients are hostile to his troops as well and the Tenno are trying to repel them, and are not trying to attack the Grineer. Little Duck finds this behaviour exasperating. Though his lines might also imply he is fully aware that the Tenno and the Sentients aren't allies, but he hates the Tenno too much to even consider a temporary ceasefire to deal with a common, worse enemy.
• Worthy Opponent: If you support him and the Grineer during the Gradivus Dilemma, on the other hand, he will praise your fighting prowess. While fighting him, if you get him down to less than a third of his health he'll begrudgingly admit "you fight (wheeze) well..."

Kela De Thaym

"I'll be back, right after these missiles!"

Voiced by: Cassandra Wladyslava

"This is my show, my audience! I call the shots!"

The boss of Sedna. Kela De Thaym was enlisted for mandatory military service like all other Grineer females, and loved it so much she extended her term for a decade. After an exemplary career she was allowed to act as judge for the Grineer Trial by Combat event, Rathuum. She was targeted by the Lotus on request from the Steel Meridian, in an attempt to rescue a group of Grineer dissidents Kela had captured. Drops blueprints for Saryn.

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• And There Was Much Rejoicing: During her fight, her audience actually boos her, which pisses her off. Her defeat is met with thunderous applause.
• Attention Whore: Pleasurably seeks favor from her crowd, as it becomes more visible the more restraints she imposes to the match.
• Bad Boss: According to the Lotus, her underlings are as much for her amusement as her protection.
• Blood Knight: Downplayed — Kela apparently liked combat so much that she extended her tour of duty for a decade, and revels in the carnage of Rathuum. But when you actually face her in battle, she turns out to be a Dirty Coward.
• Blood Sport: While Rathuum in nominally a court dedicated to trial by combat, it's functionally a combat arena and a major Grineer sporting event. It's not certain if this is the Grineer's idea of a court, or if Kela had a hand in turning it into a public entertainment event. Actual courts of law, ideally, are very formal and usually quiet events dedicated to impartial and objective application of the law. Rathuum runs contrary to that in every way.
• Combat Commentator: Provides commentary for your Rathuum matches.
• Dirty Coward: Unforgivably flunky, to the point that Cressa lampshades it. If you get the upper hand, she runs away and tries to just bomb the stadium you're in from orbit.
• Drone Deployer: Constantly hurls Rollers at you, which can stagger you and leave you open to a rocket blast.
• Expy: Between being Lean and Mean, high collar armor that evokes a mink coat, and sharing more than a few design cues, she was likely inspired by Cruella de Vil.
• Glass Cannon: Her pre-rework version had lower than average health (compared to bosses), and her shields didn't recharge on their own. She does, however, have a very powerful rocket launcher. Her redesign gave her a lot more health and makes her a full-on Lightning Bruiser.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: She can be seen latching from wall to wall around the arena.
• Hanging Judge: To go with her makeover in Operation Rathuum, she oversees the Rathuum 'trials' that are supposed to the Trial by Combat version of a Kangaroo Court. Of course, what screws up her plans is overlooking a rule that allows the accused to have more capable fighters compete in their stead. Of course, she holds the Tenno in contempt for "cheating" and tries to execute the prisoners herself, giving the Tenno an excuse to hunt her down and take her out in front of her own audience.
• Having a Blast: Something that didn't change in her rework was her love of rocket launchers. Her own modified version of the Bombard's rocket launcher has been upgraded to a cluster missile battery, and she will occasionally step out of the arena to summon orbital bombardments to deal with you.
• Hypocrite: She decides you're cheating after you repeatedly beat her Executioner gladiators and gets pissed about it. Her boss fight mechanics entirely revolve around her calling a friggin Kill Sat to kill you without her endangering herself. Even the Grineer decide she's scum after that.
• Intoxication Ensues: The Dog Days event — which involves fighting Rathuum with water soakers — can be traced back to a gas leak that Kela happened to inhale.
• In Vino Veritas: And speaking of that gas leak, when she's high as a kite Kela is a surprisingly pleasant person, to the point where she only has minor complaints when her Executioners lose a match and is a shockingly good sport about it, congratulating the Tenno on their victory, though she's also somehow self-aware about this and warns the Tenno that her personality change won't last once the gas leak is fixed. She even wonders why they don't just solve all their disputes with water-gun fights.
• Iron Lady: Downplayed. While aggressive and imposing for a strong sense of duty in shaping Grineer order, she has no qualms to cheating and explicitly making Rathuum nothing more than a Blood Sport. Much to the Steel Meridians' concern.
• King Mook: Prior to her redesign she basically looked like a slightly redesigned Ballista, complete with their voice.
• Lady of War: She's one of the judges in the Grineer Matriarchy, and she's only happy when she is out in the field watching anything bleed.
• Large and in Charge: He redesign made her absolutely huge, with Shoulders of Doom to boot.
• Large Ham: As of Operation Rathuum, her personalty has shifted dramatically along with her looks. She's basically the evil equivalent of a sports commentator mixed with a Hanging Judge. She also has the typical Grineer trait of yelling at the top of her voice.
• Laughing Mad: Laugh hysterically during some of her attacks.
• Smurfette Principle: The only female boss that has a planet dedicated to her and who can drop parts of a Warframe.
• Villainous Breakdown: At half health, she panics and offer to let the Tenno become Executioners if they spare her. The crowd immediately turns on her and starts booing her, which only accelerates her breakdown.

Lieutenant Lech Kril

"Does that second-skin peel away just as easy as the first?"

"And I will strike down upon the Tenno with great vengeance and furious anger!"

The boss of Mars, and half of the dual boss on Ceres. A revered war hero of the Grineer whose augmentations and powers rival those of Warframes. Drops blueprints for Excalibur on Mars, and parts of the Miter, Twin Gremlins and Frost on Ceres.

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• Almighty Janitor: He is a famed hero to the Grineer, yet he holds the lowly position of lieutenant. When first fought, he is stronger than Captain Vor; the second time, they are equals.
• An Ice Person: Before his cryo pack is destroyed; it comes as no surprise that he drops the Frost Warframe as a result.
• Attack Its Weak Point: He is invulnerable at first. You need to damage his cryo pack.
• Broken Armor Boss Battle: His armor makes him invulnerable to damage until the coolant tubes on the back are all cut, forcing him to purge it and leaving him vulnerable.
• Dual Boss: He fights alongside Vor on Ceres.
• Flat Character: Of all the Grineer bosses, Lech Kril has the least personality or distinguishing characteristics.
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: He uses the Brokk version of the Fragor hammer, whose head consists of two spiked globes each roughly the size of his skull.
• Mighty Glacier: He has powerful attacks both at range and in melee, but is not especially mobile.
• More Dakka: He wields a Gorgon LMG in his first phase, which can absolutely shred you if you aren't careful. He loses it in his second phase.
• The Musketeer: He can pull a Gorgon LMG out of Hammerspace if his Hammer just isn't cutting it. Before Update 9 revamped Captain Vor, he was the only Grineer boss to have a dedicated melee weapon to complement his gun.
• Turns Red: After you destroy his cryo pack, he will switch to fire and go full melee, complete with speed boost.
• Unexplained Recovery: He's the boss of Mars and half of the boss duo on Ceres. As Ceres comes after Mars and he was explicitly killed in the Mars mission (where the Lotus is worried that his assassination would make him a Martyr to his people as he's a war hero), it's unknown how he is alive for the second round in Ceres. At least Vor has the excuse that he has a Janus Key.
• Wreathed in Flames: He envelops himself in flames after his cryo pack is destroyed.

Tyl Regor

"Come for a fight? Oh, should have dressed for a funeral!"

Voiced by: Lucas Schuneman

"I'm very excited now. The anticipation, ooh! I always learn so much... from a live dissection. ...A dissection? No no no no, that sounds too humane. Your death will be... painful."

The boss of Uranus. A brilliant, yet deranged Grineer scientist who was working to revert the genetic decay of the Grineer, and in the process ended up awakening the Sentient Hunhow from his tomb beneath the seas of Uranus.

Targeted by the Lotus because the research he is conducting not only threatens to make the Grineer immortal, but also give birth to more dangerous clones (such as his Manic Grineer). He fights using Ack and Brunt, an axe and shield combo (formerly a Cronus sword). Did we mention he's completely crazy? Drops blueprints for Equinox.

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• Artificial Limbs: He has stilt-like feet and his arms have small mechanical claws to attach weapons.
• Ax-Crazy: He's stated to be completely unhinged by the Lotus. His dialogue doesn't do much to disabuse the notion. Bonus points for his rework including an axe in form of the Ack.
• Badass Bookworm: He's only a scientist, but he can go toe-to-toe with a cadre of highly-armed space ninjas and win.
• Body Horror: He wears his faceplate upside down. On his original model, this was less innocuous than it first seemed: closer inspection reveals that the helmet doesn't completely connect to the faceplate in this manner; in the old loading screen for his mission, that gap revealed his skin caves in around his face. Less famously, he also has part of his flesh bulging outward through his chestplate. Is it any wonder why he's so interested in curing genetic decay? As a result, fan art sometimes depicts him as having an upside-down face.
• Close-Range Combatant: He can mess your whole day up at close range using his axe, and has resistance to most ranged attacks.
• Cold Ham: Make no mistake - Tyl Regor gives even Vay Hek a run for his credits. However, where Vay Hek is an absolute tsunami of high-quality ham, Tyl Regor is a Cultured Badass with a side of Soft-Spoken Sadist... at least until he gets angry.
• Drowning Pit: At the final stage of his boss battle he punches out the glass ceiling of his lab, flooding the entire room with electrified ocean water, forcing you up the cramped balcony to fight.
  "Gonna pull this ocean down on us if I have to!"
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Like most other bosses, he used to be an upscaled, blue version of the Grineer Butcher, wielding a Skana instead of a Cleaver. He also made reference to Halloween, of all things. His rework turned him into a Faux Affably Evil Cold Ham.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Zigzagged, since Mirror Defense was added long after he first made an appearance in the game, but according to the Star chart he first makes an appearance in Mars on Tyana Pass gunning for the crystals as to use Belric and Rania’s remains as templates for his tube men to slow the genetic decay of the Grineer. He later shows up on Uranus as the guy who accidentally wakes up the Sentients during Natah and the boss of the planet.
• Evil Sounds Deep: The guy sounds like he should be performing Shakespeare, but instead he's busy running crazy experiments.
• Evilutionary Biologist: The Grineer's lead geneticist with the goal of ridding the empire of the Clone Degradation that affects them all, which would make future Grineer a lot more healthy and dangerous.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's a smooth talker, but also a total Sadist.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a brilliant scientist, and is fully capable of leaping across the room to pound you into pulp.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: He never stays in one place in his boss arena, teleporting away from time to time which makes it harder to draw a bead on him. This is even more the case when fighting him with a charge weapon like the Opticor or any Bow.
• Hidden Depths: In addition to being a brilliant scientist with genes to improve Grineer forces, he also invented both Ack & Brunt along with the Knux, showing he has some knowledge of weapon smithing as well.
• Hypocritical Humor: He mocks the Tenno as "worthless, ugly freaks", which is pretty rich coming from a Grineer. That being said, what we see of Excalibur Umbra's face suggests he might have a point about the ugly part.
• King Mook: A variation. His personal lab is filled with Manics, he has the same Flash Step as them, he shares the same hit-and-dance-around-you melee fighting style, and both tend to be Laughing Mad when they're killing people.
• Mad Eye: One of his mask's glowing eyelights is noticeably brighter than the other, creating this effect.
• Mad Scientist: He's trying to revert the Grineer's genetic decay by making them — and himself — immortal.
  • As of Update 17, you battle him in an underwater lab tileset. That's right, he's ascended to classical James Bond villain.
  • The cloning process he's known for? It doesn't involve stem cells or synthetic tissues. It involves melting living organisms (primarily other Grineer) and duplicating them.
  • The Tubemen he's been breeding? Variant Manic Grineer, known to other Grineer as being mentally unstable and to players as "Oh, goddamnit!"
• The Nicknamer: He comes up with various unflattering nicknames for the many, many people on his shitlist. He calls the Tenno lizards, rodents and worms, refers to Vay Hek as a "legless parrot," compares Alad V to a "stinky, floppy jellyfish," and refers to Nef Anyo as "Neffy". Right before threatening to castrate him with a scalpel.
• Large Ham:
  "You hate my science, hate my tuuubes, and my tuuuubemen. But I have the numbers, add those numbers, mix those waters, grow the tuuubemen... so they kill forever."
  "Die, lizard! Leech! Bloody worm!"
  "IT'S HAMMER TIME!!"
• Laughing Mad: Outside of combat he keeps his cool and professional demeanor, but when pitted against the Tenno he'll start laughing as hard as his Manics while caught in the bloodlust.
• Lightning Bruiser: In battle, Tyl Regor moves fast and erratically when attacking his opponents. He also swings his Knux gauntlets around like they're nothing, on top of having a good amount of health and armor.
• Power Fist: His redesign incorporates the Knux, massive robotic fists on both arms.◊ He can swap them for an axe in less than a second.
• Rocket Punch: He can shoot his Knux Power Fists at Tenno, or at the glass walls to flood the room.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: From "Tubemen of Regor" onward his sentences are very clipped, almost like Mordin Solus, and he alternates randomly between a sinister drawl and Motor Mouth.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He has two modes, and this is one of them. The other generally involves talking very quickly in very short sentences.
• Super-Strength: Applying the results of his own experiments on himself made Tyl ridiculously strong. How strong? Knux, the massive robotic fists from the Power Fist example above, can be reverse-engineered and used by the Tenno as a weapon — but only in Archwing. Meaning, that even for the Warframes, who are known to have a degree of Super-Strength of their own, this weapon is too heavy and unwieldy to use without relying on zero-gravity or buoyancy assistance. Tyl, however, is strong enough to use them on foot.
• Suddenly Voiced: An even more sudden one compared to Hek, as his witty yet surprisingly educated snarks make him go toe-to-toe with the animated Lex Luthor.
• Surrounded by Idiots: It's not quite clear where in the Grineer hierarchy Regor and Kril stand in relation to one another, but Tyl certainly gives off this vibe during Mirror Defense on Mars, where he complains about having to do Kril's job of defending Mars for him.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Has a huge muscular torso, further accentuated by his pin-like prostethic legs.
• Teleport Spam: Employs Manic tactics in his fights, turning invisible and teleporting away after receiving a certain amount of damage.
• Tranquil Fury: When the Tenno come for him after ruining his research progress and killing his gestating Tubemen, he starts sending death threats with barely contained rage and contempt.
  "You had me anxious, Tenno. Nervous. Pacing, even. Didn't think you'd come. Such a relief. I'll finally get the chance to hurt you."
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Natah quest has him searching for the Sentient technology that nearly destroyed the Orokin. He was not expecting to wake them up after thousands of years.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Story wise, after he wakes up the Sentients and indirectly sets up The New War, Tyl Regor is never heard from again. While he does get new voice lines in events, and ended up playing the role of antagonist in Mirror Defense missions years later in the game's life cycle, he's yet to be heard of during or after the New War. Considering how the prerequisites for the Neptune Junction involve killing him, it’s likely he was killed by the Tenno after Natah.
• Wicked Cultured: Of all the Grineer bosses, Tyl Regor is without doubt the most charming, intellectual and erudite speaker.
• Your Little Dismissive Diminutive: He calls Tenno "scampering lizards".

The Twin Queens (Spoilers for The War Within)

The Witch

The Worm

Voiced by: Tricia Brioux (Elder), Jex Black (Worm)

"Hush, Worm. Let the beasts do their work."

— The Elder Queen

"Relax child, you won't feel a thing. Promise."

— The Worm Queen

The matriarchal rulers of the Grineer Empire. The Sisters hail from the distant past of the Orokin Era. Despite being shunned and reviled and nearly killed from birth for being identical twins (and thus similar to Grineer slaves, very offensive to Orokin sensibilities), they were reluctantly employed by the Orokin to fight against the growing Grineer slave rebellions. Eventually, impressed with the strength they had as a familial pair, more and more Grineer (who were "identical, but not brothers") swore fealty to them until, it is assumed, they had an army under their command, with which they began their empire.

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• Abusive Precursors: They are Orokin, and the Elder Queen repeatedly mentions that she had some sort of hand in the creation of the Tenno and the Warframes.
• Action Girl: They were both proficient fighters in their Orokin bodies, but have long taken a backseat to things.
• Asshole Victim: No tears were shed when the Elder Queen is left powerless before the very child whose body she tried to possess and is either left to rot, silenced by Teshin who's freed from the Queen's control that he endured for so long, or killed by the Operator themselves.
• Bad Boss: To an incredible degree. With the way they (judging from younger queen's gleefuly sadistic video addresses you can see aboard the Kuva Fortress) run things it's impossible to imagine anyone following them without being genetically hardwired to do so, as it is the case with the Grineer.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: They terrorize or rule over the entire system and have ordered the complete extermination of all Tenno. After the Elder's death in The War Within, the Worm has become the sole ruler of the Grineer.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Nearly all conflicts involving the Grineer trace back to them, but the Queens are still in competition with the other faction leaders.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: The Elder's eyes have black schlerae, like most female Grineer.
• Cyborg: The younger-looking twin appears to be augmented to the point that her face actually resembles one of the Grineer masks.
• The Caligula: The Worm Queen, especially when you interrupt her kuva-gathering. She orders any of her loyal soldiers left alive to report for immediate execution if they fail to stop you. "Capricious little shit" is the best description of her personality.
• Cool Crown: The Elder Queen wears a large black and red crown, with a long braid-like tip aiming to the sky. The Worm wears a pair of small braids that resemble Girlish Pigtails.
• The Dividual: None of the Grineer have ever mentioned the two queens apart.
• Dirty Coward: The Worm Queen does pretty much nothing to help her own empire in The New War after Narmer takes over the Origin System and seemingly just goes into hiding the whole time. This becomes one of the reasons why Kahl completely defects afterwards.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Due to their habit of Body Surfing, they currently reside in Grineer-made clone bodies, with all the ugliness that would imply. The younger one's face looks less than a face and more like a lump of flesh molded into the likeness of one, with glowing yellow lights plugged in where the eyes should be. Even worse, their lower bodies resemble snake or worm-like fleshy tails.
• Evil Overlord: They are the unquestioned rulers of the Grineer, all of whom are genetically hardwired to obey them, and they preside over the pillaging and brutal fascist oppression of much of the Origin System.
• Fairytale Motifs: Witches. The Kuva Fortress' two music tracks are titled The Witches' Lair and Red Broth. The War Within echoes a classical fairytale within Warframe's bizarre setting: An evil witch (the Elder Queen), motivated by vanity and greed, lures an unsuspecting child (the Tenno) into her lair (the Fortress). Magical potions (Kuva) are involved, and the child must pass a coming-of-age trial with the help of an elderly mentor (Teshin) in order to overcome adversity.
• Faux Affably Evil: Both of them have shades of this. The Worm Queen's meek demeanor is only a paper-thin coverup for her sadistic tendencies, and the Elder Queen has moments where she talks down to the Tenno in a sneering tone throughout the "The War Within" questline
• Galactic Conqueror: They desire to "liberate" and "unify" the scattered colonies dotting the Origin System into their empire.
• The Ghost:
  • Prior to The War Within, they had almost no direct presence in the game, with only two speaking lines demoting Vor to captain, no concept art whatsoever, and little involvement in the plot.
  • They are this in-universe too, as during the War Within quest the Lotus is actually surprised to learn that Teshin is taking the Grineer Queens seriously, as she had thought they were merely Grineer propaganda and didn't actually exist due to how neither of them have even appeared in person for anything, even diplomatic talks or transmissions.
• Girlish Pigtails: The younger queen has these, made out of implanted cables.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: They are anything but reasonable, seeing as how the main strategy they employ is to throw Grineer soldiers at their problems until they go away, and one of the pastimes they enjoy is their "hunts", where their prisoners are hounded by Grineer Draks for their entertainment.
• Grand Theft Me: How they, and in turn the Orokin, managed to live for so long: they subvert and crush the will of children and steal their bodies for themselves after their current one grows old. However, they've since been forced to resort to using genetically-degraded Grineer clone bodies. "The War Within" centers around the Elder Queen, who's reaching the end of her 'Continuity', attempting to seize the Operator's body as her own.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While all the Grineer ultimately serve them, they rarely involve themselves with their underlings' actions. As of The War Within, they start to become more active.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The Worm Queen apparently has an appetite for the flesh of other Grineer. Most of the lines heard over the Kuva Fortress intercom mention that she has unproductive workers ground into meat.
• Informed Attribute: Apparently, these two were so proficient enough at fighting Grineer as a pair that they earned the respect and loyalty of the Grineer before they were genetically modified to have Undying Loyalty, but they seem to be entirely Non-Action Big Bad when we see them proper. Justified in a sense, as they are now stuck to using degenerating Grineer bodies rather than their original Orokin bodies.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The elder Queen loses her power over Teshin and either is killed on the spot or suffers a Fate Worse than Death, either by Teshin or Your Tenno, both of which she tried to manipulate.
• I'm a Humanitarian: In addition to general cannibalism Grineer can resort to, the Worm Queen herself will make occasional comments about eating Grineer that fail her.
• I Shall Taunt You: In contrast to her frustration and focus on her Kuva Guardians, The Worm remains confident and dismissive during her transmissions of conjunction survival.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: If killed, the Elder Queen's scream is cut off by the deathblow.
  Elder Queen:Nooo, NO! YAAA-!
• Killed Off for Real: Regardless of your choices, the Elder Queen bites it at the end of The War Within questline, either beheaded by Teshin, void-blasted by the Operator, or succumbing to her already failing health after being robbed of her opportunity to pull a Grand Theft Me.
• Last of Her Kind: Subverted. The Queens were thought to be the last remaining living Orokin in the present setting, despite their current bodies being of Grineer origin. Then Ballas showed up.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The Kuva Scepter, used to dig into a victim's psyche and plague them with grief to the point their persona is eaten from the inside. If successful, the user can forcefully insert themselves into the mindless victim in question.
• Mind Rape: Like the Orokin, in order to transfer over to a new body, they have to do this to the inhabitant of their next vessel in order to be able to take control of their body.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: Like Councilor Vay Hek, but up a notch. All Grineer uniforms associated to them are Red and Black and Evil All Over and order in their facilities are gray-colored and heavily totalitarian with scanners, mines, turrets and bunkers up on every brim. The Twin Queens are also effectively protected by the Praetorian Guard that are immune to any sort of damage until you unlock the full potential of Transference and break their guard.
• Necromancer: The Worm Queen is the inventor of the process that created Kuva Liches.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Several. Not only did the Elder Queen ordering the search of a new body allow the Tenno rise up to fend off the Grineer expansion, she engineered her efforts of bringing the Tenno to her into her own self-destruction.
  • Beginning the search for the Tenno only made the Lotus forcibly awaken them from cryogenic sleep.
  • Afterwards the recently demoted Vor is given only a small force, rather than the expected army, which is weak enough to not only allow the awakened Tenno to escape, but strengthen them rather than exterminate them.
  • By "The War Within", the Lotus-Eater Machine that was meant to ruin the Tenno from within became a key to the Power Limiter that was sealing off the full range of the Tenno's void powers since the Orokin era.
• Off with His Head!: At the climax of The War Within, if you allow Teshin to finish off the Elder Queen after forcing him to work for her, Teshin will slice her head right off in one quick motion before she can escape.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Regardless of how vile they truly are, the fact that they were able to inspire an entire race to pledge loyalty because of how proficient they were at working together was really an impressive feat.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Currently known only as The Elder Queen and The Worm.
• Orcus on His Throne: They take a very hands-off management style to their empire, to the point where Lotus doubts they exist as more than a propaganda point of Grineer Command. In the lore, apart from demoting Admiral Vor to Captain and reprimanding Councilor Vay Hek for his failure to destroy the Tenno Relays, the Queens don't have much of a presence before The War Within. Subverted post Update 23, as the Worm Queen starts actively recruiting candidates for Kuva Liches.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Despite being untold centuries old, the Worm has the voice and mannerisms of a bratty teenager.
• Too Kinky to Torture: In a twist, she accuses the Tenno of being this, claiming she'd put a collar on them, only to catch herself and state that they'd probably like her doing that.
• Uncertain Doom: The Witch Queen is undoubtedly killed by Teshin or the Operator, or left to die from her sickness, but the Worm Queen seems certain she can revive her sister, which is why she keeps attempting to harvest Kuva. Whether or not the Witch Queen will ever be revived or kept dead for the foreseeable future is unknown.
• Universally Beloved Leader: All Grineer love their "Kweens". The whole empire got started when they began to serve them out of sheer admiration. By the timeline of the game, apart for a few genetically-defective specimens all Grineer are unflinchingly loyal to them, to the extent that those who are not (like Clem and the defectors of the Steel Meridian) are not actually considered Grineer at all.
• The Unreveal: We never see what the Queens looked like initially.
• Unseen No More: "The War Within" changes a few things for the Queens beyond the Elder Queen's possible end, now that the player knows that the Queens are real rather than propaganda, and the Worm Queen will occasionally transmit orders to her Kuva Guardians, comment on her Kuva Liches or during Conjunction Survival on Lua.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When the Operator returns to the Queens' throne chamber and emerges from their frame, the Worm immediately turns tail and flees, ensuring her survival.
• Villainous Breakdown: The Elder Queen loses all composure in her final moments. The Worm gets very pissed when a Kuva Siphon is destroyed.
• Was Once a Man: More specifically, they were once Orokin twins, whose consciousnesses were inserted to Grineer bodies several times.

Grineer Special Units

The Grustrag Three

"Are we sure these are the targets? They seem so inconsequential."

"The Grustrag Three. Arrogant. Sadistic. Unstable. They are perfect for this."

— Councilor Vay Hek

Vem Tabook, Shik Tal, and Leekter make up the Grustrag Three, a Grineer Death Squad created by Councilor Vay Hek to punish Tenno who support the Corpus in Invasion missions.

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• Attack Drone: Each member of the Three now has a Sentinel of their own, which is armed with a laser rifle and also used to attach the restraining bolts mentioned below. Presumably they also help keep the Three themselves in check.
• Badass Normal: Stalker wields special ghostly void powers like the Tenno, and is immune to void powers himself. The Zanuka Harvester has special Tenno power components installed and can launch void nullifying grenades. The Grustrag Three just deal a crapton of damage with their guns and are three people, and are arguably the most dangerous of the assassins.
• Blood Knight: They sound fairly bored when attacking Tenno, even asking if the ones they're fighting are the correct targets. According to Codex, Vem Tabook is this to such an extent that he got so impatient to kill that he turned on fellow Grineer, leading to his reconditioning.
• Body Horror: Implied. They're never seen outside of their armor, but the patch notes for their release update mentions they are 'riddled with mutation'. Their faces are also far from human.
• The Dreaded: Have this reputation on both sides of the Grineer/Tenno conflict. Lotus immediately orders you to abort the mission and evacuate when they appear. Other Grineer (like Sargas Ruk, for example), don't like fighting with them either, due to their tendencies to attack their own remaining even after their reconditioning.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Once you start bleeding out, trying to Alt+F4 away from them doesn't work.
• Hero Killer: They are meant to be this, given that they inspire such fear that the normally calm and collected Lotus pleads for you to forget the mission and run when they're about to drop in. If you didn't bring your best gear they will uphold that reputation.
• Interface Screw: Downplayed. Their arrival is heralded by the Lotus's messages becoming filled with static and bugging out. But they do not mess with the HUD or anything else in any real way.
• Mini-Boss: Just like the Stalker and the Harvester before them.
• Mook Chivalry: Despite there being three of them, only one of the Three will attack you at any given moment.
• Nonstandard Game Over: If they kill your whole squad, you automatically fail the mission, and wake up on the main menu with a Restraining Bolt that will reduce your effectiveness in battle against Grineer in general. Luckily, the Lotus gives you a blueprint to craft the remover.
• No-Sell: In a first for assassin minibosses, averted. The Grustrag Three are quick enough to avoid your attacks, but have none of their predecessors' Dispel gimmickry, and are vulnerable to all status effects, debuffs or forms of attack expected to work on a standard boss.
• Psychopathic Man Child: Some of their lines make them seem like this:
  Leekter: I want to play with these ones.
  Shik Tal: (gasp) Boooriiinnnggg! (gasp)
• Underestimating Badassery: The Three are openly dismissive of the Tenno when they arrive during a mission, calling them weak and questioning if they really have the right target. Depending on how well equipped and spec'd the Tenno in question is however, the three of them will quickly be set straight.

Sprag & Ven'kra Tel

A pair of cloned elite Grineer sisters. Much like the Grustrag Three, they serve Vay Hek.

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• Art Evolution: Initially, the sisters were just uniquely colored female Grineer. Their rework gave them unique armor designs and weapons (Ven'kra uses a Vulkar sniper rifle while Sprag uses a Manticore hammer). Additionally, their character models have been redesigned, with Sprag looking more degraded than Ven'kra.
• Attack Its Weak Point: They are only vulnerable on their faces and backpacks.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: "Veilbreaker" reveals that they joined Narmer during the New War, and they can be fought as bosses by Kahl during Break Narmer missions.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Ven'kra plays this role to Sprag, constantly reminding her to calm down and stay focused.
• Cold Sniper: Ven'kra Tel uses a Vulkar, and has a very cold personality.
• Death by Irony: "She will be remembered. Who will remember you, Tenno?"
• Facial Horror: Sprag's redesigned face looks more like a mask than a face and appears to be split into four parts.
• Hulk Speak: Sprag speaks in chopped sentences and with very simple syntax.
  "Hammer flatten shiny bugs."
  "Too many shiny bugs. I kill them."
  "I make shiny bugs flat. NOW."
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: Sprag uses the Scindo Manticore. Although the Scindo is normally classified as a Heavy Blade, the Manticore skin turns it into a massive spiked hammer whose head is about half the size of her entire torso.
• Optional Boss: They can optionally be fought during Break Narmer missions to get some extra Stock for Chipper. Sprag can be found in Junk Run, while Ven'kra challenges you to a Sniper Duel in Prison Break.
• Please Wake Up: Sprag says this if you killed Ven'kra Tel before her. Kind of heartbreaking until you remember she's still trying to kill you.
• Psychopathic Man Child: Sprag is one, especially with lines like "More bugs! More shiny bugs!"
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Complete with Color-Coded for Your Convenience — Sprag, the more aggressive and slow minded of the two, wears red armor, while the more level headed and observant Ven'kra wears blue armor. Their updated character models further this, with Ven'kra looking lither and more feminine while Sprag is bulkier and more mechanical.
• Send in the Clones: Both were killed off easily by the moment they appeared in the Gate Crash event, only to reappear later in Void and Derelict Sabotage missions, by virtue of being mass-produced clones.
• Sniper Duel: In the "Break Narmer" missions, Cold Sniper Ven'kra's fight is started by Khal picking up an Avex Sniper Rifle. It's implied that she left it there specifically so they could have a sniper-on-sniper fight.
• Ungrateful Bastard: One of Ven'kra's lines after being freed from her veil in the Break Narmer missions is to express bewilderment that the "legendary" Kahl-175 is just a regular Grineer trooper and to bluntly state that she won't thank him and that she and Sprag could be executed just for talking to him. Though one of her other lines averts this by telling Kahl that if the Queens order her and Sprag to go after him, they'll warn him in advance. Basically her lines ping-pong between being subtly grateful to being outright rude to her savior. Sprag is more grateful for Kahl freeing her sister, offering to vouch for Kahl with the Queens and even suggests Kahl could be promoted to a Kuva Lich for his exploits, though obviously Kahl isn't interested at this point.
• Villainous Friendship: They care for each other as battle comrades do, and neither takes it well when the other is killed.

Rathuum Executioners

Fighters picked from all over the Grineer Empire to participate in Rathuum Trial by Combat under Kela De Thaym. Their job is to provide opposition to the accused as well as making their death as entertaining to see as possible. Tenno will have to go through them in Rathuum matches before they can earn their right to fight Kela personally.

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• Ace Custom: Executioners use personalized weapons and armor in battle.
• Confusion Fu: Executioner Harkonar can deploy holographic copies of herself to throw you off. Copies look identical to the real one, but one way to tell them apart is that copies do not have a shield section on their health bar.
• Combat Medic: Dok Thul, who was a medical officer under Sargas Ruk.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Executioner Dhurnam, who is a failed graduate of Tyl Regor's Super Breeding Program, is an extreme example. Pain and injury make him stronger and fiercer, but he can barely function unless he is in some sort of pain.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Executioner Reth, who was not even a soldier before enlisting in Rathuum.
• Gladiator Games: They are pretty much Grineer gladiators, fighting for crowd's entertainment.
• Guns Akimbo: Executioner Dhurnam wields two quad-barreled Hek shotguns.
• It's Personal: Executioner Gorth was on a receiving end of this after he killed another soldier for stealing. Unfortunately, the soldier in question was a close ally to Lech Kril, who in return pulled enough strings to destroy Gorth's military career. Now Rathuum is his only chance to redeem himself. Executioner Garesh, who blames Tenno for his misfortune (see below), holds this attitude towards them.
• Punny Name: Dok Thul. We're not sure if it's a name or a title.
• Punishment Detail: Several Executioners ended up in Rathuum as a punishment for some sort of failure.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Executioners were picked from all strata of Grineer society. Not all of them came there because they were competent soldiers, or even soldiers at all.
• Non-Idle Rich: A non-heroic example with executioner Harkonar, who is considered a nobility among the Grineer for being in charge of a major weapon production facility. She joined Rathuum because she wasn't satisfied with just making weapons, she wanted to kill with her own hands.
• Old Soldier: Executioner Nok, who lived long enough for his Grineer degenerative afflictions to make him unfit for regular duty. Rathuum is a form of retirement for him.
• Serial Killer: Reth was one before entering Rathuum. A simple laborer, he began experimenting with tools and devices surrounding him to see how they can be used for lethal purposes, apparently for no other reason than that he could/got curious.
• Sole Survivor: Executioner Garesh ended up in Rathuum after his whole battalion had been eradicated in an encounter with a single Tenno and he was left stranded in a wilderness, only to be sentenced to death in Rathuum for cowardice when he managed to return. After he'd managed to kill every executioner he was pitted against, he was offered a position of executioner himself as a form of pardon.
• Teleport Spam: Executioner Garesh likes to teleport in close combat range, similar to Grineer Flameblades. Dok Thul and Dhurnam possess Switch Teleport abilities similar to that of Loki and Grineer Commanders, which allows them to suddenly switch places with you, leaving you momentarily confused and unable to act.
• The Sociopath: Some Executioners qualify, especially Reth.
• Trading Bars for Stripes: Executioner Reth had to join Rathuum to avoid capture after his killings got traced back to him.
• You Did Everything You Could: Executioner Dok Thul, who failed to save one of Sargas Ruk favorite underlings. Averted — Ruk did not turn out forgiving or understanding at all, cue Dok Thul being "reassigned" to Rathuum.

Thumpers

A Tusk Thumper, a type of Thumper.

Quadrupedal combat vehicles employed by the Grineer in the Plains of Eidolon. They are the field bosses during the daytime, and act as a warmup of sorts for the Eidolons that appear at night.

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• Attack Its Weak Point: Are only vulnerable to damage at the green exhaust nodes on their knees.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: They are essentially Grineer tanks, with durability to match.
• Flunky Boss: As a Desperation Attack, they will start deploying drones to call for help once they've taken enough damage.
• Lightning Bruiser: For a machine the size of a small house these things are deceptively fast, capable of suddenly leaping several stories high into the air or performing quick scattering dashes at you.
• Money Spider: Fighting them can be difficult and arduous, especially if you are poorly prepared, but rewarding, as Thumpers drop large amounts of plains-unique resources upon defeat. They have a chance to drop anything, from ores to fish parts.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: The vast majority of their bodies can resist all damage, including getting hit by Nova's various antimatter attacks! AIM FOR THE KNEES!
• Shockwave Stomp: One of their attacks sends out a series of shock waves in quick succession. They do no damage but knock you down and send you flying away from a Thumper. They also come out with little warning, and because of the sheer mass of shockwaves are difficult to evade and, depending on when you get hit by one of them, can knock you down multiple times per burst, effectively stunlocking you.
• Stealthy Colossus: They remain buried in the ground until they detect a threat. The only ones that are always visible are inactive and implied to be under maintenance.
• Subsystem Damage: Their guns have their own hitboxes and health, which if depleted, will temporarily disable them.
• Underground Monkey: There are three Thumper variations — regular, Bull, and Doma in the ascending order of toughness — but the only difference between them are size, coloration and drops. Their chassis, behaviour and available attacks are identical.
• Walking Tank: As opposed to the Orb Mothers, these things look like a modern, if warn down, battle tank given legs.
• Warm-Up Boss: Act as one for the Plains of Eidolon and the titular eidolons, though they were introduced into the game after the latter. Their total invulnerability to damage except at their knee joints is exactly the same of as the eidolons, allowing players to learn the importance of looking for weak points before tackling the plains at night.

Kuva Liches

"You are the Queen-chosen, soldier. Greatness awaits you. Greatness... or perhaps death."

"We Maggots live… not long. We hope more life… work… kill… maybe Queens notice… Maybe… they share… the Old Blood. We are maggots. But eventually even maggots can fly."

Grineer soldiers infused with Kuva at the behest of the Worm Queen, giving them a measure of the same immortality she has, and thrown against Tenno deliberately to catalyze the bonding. Those slain by a Warframe, rather than dying, simply teleport away, having imprinted on that specific frame, and elevated into an elite cadre of the Queen's commanders with a personal feud with their original killer.

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• Ace Custom: In addition to their powers they wield special variants of some Grineer weapons (as well as a number of totally unique ones like the Kuva Bramma, Kuva Chakkhurr, and the Kuva Shildeg), and each individual piece also has a damage modifier specific to that Lich depending on the Warframe that executed them as a Larvling.
• Arch-Enemy: They are elite Grineer soldiers made into powerful, immortal commanders with a bone to pick with the Tenno. Out of all Grineer, they will always make things worse for the Tenno that killed them until they are slain. That said, they can be slain with the right Requiem mods and usually don't make big enough impressions on their foes to count as such.
• Ax-Crazy: The manic Lich is disturbingly in-depth on their demise, and how they intend on paying you back, all coupled with a cruel tone and violent laughter.
• Background Music Override: Have their own theme that plays when they invade a mission, plus a musical sting which plays whenever one of their thralls spawns into a mission.
• Bandit Mook: Missions in areas where a Kuva Lich has political influence result in said Lich stealing some of the mission rewards; the only way to get them is to kill the Lich.
• BFG: Sometimes Kuva Liches can spawn with one of two Archguns, that being the Kuva Grattler or the Kuva Ayanga.
• Came Back Strong: Once average Grineer soldiers, after being sought out by the Kuva Guardians and slain by the Tenno, they become infused with the Queens' old blood, Kuva. This revives them as powerful Kuva Liches, the top brass of the Grineer with powers rivaling that of the Tenno and an ability to shrug off death. Some lines imply that there's a slight degree of Came Back Wrong though, as the Liches are still afflicted by how they were killed, Logical Cold Liches describing that they are now completely numb, Mad Heat Liches similarly implying their nerves have been burnt away, and most Liches indicating that Electricity courses through them or that their blood has literally become a Toxin when killed through those methods. This just gives them more drive to kill you, from their perspective.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: As with other bosses, they're immune to status effects and many Warframe powers.
• Custom Uniform: The Liches' appearance is personalised. Amongst other things, their left shoulder pad appears to be a Warframe helmet — specifically, the one you used to kill them with the first time.
• Defeat Means Friendship: When you finally defeat a Kuva Lich, you have the option to convert them instead of killing them. This means you don't get their Ace Custom weapon, but they'll occasionally show up to help you during missions. With the right upgrade, they can be assigned to your Railjack crew as defenders.
• Dirty Coward: Upon hitting them with the correct Requiem combination, Liches proceed to flee to Saturn Proxima, forcing you to hunt them down and take out their forces in a Railjack.
• Elite Mook: They're essentially normal Grineer given Warframe abilities and the ability to survive fatal injuries. Additionally, they create "thralls" to populate their territory, which fit this role more closely: thralls are otherewise similar to normal Grineer units, but have extra damage resistance, are immune to crowd control, and require a Finishing Move to kill.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Unlike the Sisters of Parvos, who do not allow male members, Kuva Liches can be either gender, with Kuva Larvlings having a 50% chance of spawning male and a 50% chance to spawn female.
• Evil Counterpart: They are essentially the Grineer answer to the warframes, possessing a form of immortality and their own versions of warframe powers, up to and including things like Nova's Molecular Prime (albeit renamed as Molecular Annihilation). They also use several unique powers, though, such as Leap.
• Evil Is Petty: They're immortal supersoldiers who will conquer large swaths of the solar system, and relentlessly oppose the player until they're defeated. How? By stealing a fraction of your mission rewards and taunting you about it on the "mission success" screen. Gameplay and Story Segregation might be in play, but the fact that you get all of these rewards back when you finally defeat the lich implies that they aren't even doing anything with what they steal: they're just taking it to mess with you.
• Face Death with Dignity: Played for laughs when killing a "Jovial" lich.
  Lich: Welp, fair's fair.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: While Kuva Liches have their general appearance at the whims of the game's generation, they'll always have be wearing a pauldron on their left shoulder that their right shoulder lacks. This pauldron is actually a helmet... the helmet of the Warframe that created them.
• Faux Affably Evil: Jovial Liches. Just because they seem chummy doesn't mean they're any less happy to kill you.
• Grapple Move: They can grab and smash/toss around foes that get too close to them. This attack has a noticeable wind-up but it can't be blocked, and if they snatch you they will knock most health out of your warframe if not outright kill you.
• Heel–Face Turn: Sparing one after having them dead to rights will have them join the Tenno's side to reclaim their lost honor.
• Immortality Hurts: As they point out, just because fatal wounds normally just make them stronger doesn't mean they hurt less.
• Luck-Based Mission: Killing enough thralls can tell you which Requiem mods you'll need to defeat a lich, but to learn what order you need to use them in, you'l have to try out each combination. And if you get it wrong, the Lich will level up, take over a new section of the star chart, and require you to hunt them down again.
• No-Sell: They can only be killed if you have the correct combination of Requiem Mods in your Parazon. If you don't, they'll completely halt your offense, lift your warframe into the air and break its back over their knee (among other things). Notably, this is currently the only attack in the game that will instantly kill you, bypassing any chance of revival. Stalker used to be able to do this, but it seems he lost this power.
  • Kuva Liches have since lost this ability. Now they just laugh at you and run away if you don't have the correct Parazon mods.
• Not So Stoic: Logical Liches are generally more serious than Jovial, but they have occasional funny lines, especially those provoked by their personality quirks.
• Oh, Crap!: They don’t take it well when they find out you’re pursuing them during their Saturn Proxima confrontation, especially when you board their galleon.
  Lich: Tenno? Tenno?! HERE?!? Protect me! You! And you and you and you! Alla you! Protec' your Lich! I... I needs to think! GO!
• Procedural Generation: Each Lich is an entirely new character with their own set of abilities.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: An endlessly recruiting one for the Worm Queen.
• Shmuck Bait: It's possible for a relatively new player to create a Lich, provided they've gotten far enough through the main quest. When a Kuva Larveling spawns they get a red target marker on them, and a prompt to kill them with a Finishing Move, which a player can easily hit without thinking about it much... which will create a Lich that claims a section of the system map, and avert Villain Forgot to Level Grind by quickly escalating far beyond a mid-level player's ability to fight. The main saving grace is that the player can do regular missions instead of Kuva Lich missions instead, at the cost of forfeiting a small amount of their loot each mission in the Lich's territories until the Lich is dealt with.
• Shout-Out: To the Nemesis Uruks from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. They also take some influence from XCOM 2's Chosen, taking over parts of the starchart and attacking Tenno who trespass there.
• Shown Their Work: The "analytical" personality type will occasionally taunt you by saying that there are three solutions where you win, and four hundred and thirty nine that will result in your death. This is actually correct: There are 442 different Requiem sequences, and you have to get the right three to win.
• Thanatos Gambit: All striking them down without the specific Requiem mods that counter their particular Kuva cocktail does is just allow them to copy another Warframe ability. Thus, they often end up taunting the Tenno in an attempt to fight, knowing they'll finally get rid of them or get stronger.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment: Averted, as they will drop whatever Kuva weapon they're carrying if finally killed, personalized with their name and elemental bonus. Played straight if you spare them, as they'll keep the weapon.
• Villainous Crush: The Flirtatious personality type, full stop.

Others

Dr. Tengus

A Grineer scientist who has a tendency for getting involved in experiments of questionable ethics.

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• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: It was implied that Tengus saw the opportunity of using Vay Hek's money and resources to fund more of his gruesome experiments as he used Hek's "Good Host" play as a ruse to boot him out of commission. Unfortunately for him, the Twin Queens decided to spare Vay Hek and had himself strangled in Vay Hek's clutches after reviving him.
• The Ghost: Haven't made a proper appearance in the game yet. We only know about his existence from other characters' mentions of him and from some of his intercepted letters, but we know neither what he looks nor sounds like. Finally makes an appearance in The Ascension comic.
• Just Think of the Potential!: First, he thought of the potential military applications of the Technocyte Plague. That went well. Then he thought of the potential military applications of three violently unstable elite soldiers. That worked out much better than the Infested.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Apparently the Grineer have colleges. Gotta wonder what they're like if they produced this guy.
• My Brain Is Big: His head is huge.
• Never My Fault: The aftermath of the first Infested outbreak since the Sentient war (which was his fault, by the way) sees him attempting to lay the blame on the Tenno's shoulders. Possibly justified, considering the Twin Queen's likely reaction if he did confess.
• Playing with Syringes: We've only seen him involved in two experiments: the creation of the Grustrag Three and the attempted weaponization of the Infested. The former was something of a success; the latter... wasn't.
• Restraining Bolt: This is the guy you can "thank" for the invention of the Grustrag Bolt.
• Torture Technician: Part of the conditioning of the Grustrag Three involved 'agony treatments.' Sound pleasant.
• We Have Reserves: Well, he is Grineer, but notably his 'tests' with the Infested involved tossing groups of Marines into Infested containment pens and taking notes on quickly they died.
• We Can Rebuild Him: He's the man responsible for Vay Hek's 'augmentations'.

Clem

Clem. Grakata.

"He's a special guy, you know. Little weird, but a hell of a fighter."

— Darvo

A rogue Grineer marine who defected from service to the Queens and sided with the Tenno instead. Originally a joke fandom character, he was introduced into a proper canon as a part of a "Man of Few Words" quest.

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• Ace Custom: Both in origin and personal arsenal. Clem is surprisingly tough and armed to the teeth — his twin Grakatas can rip anyone to shreds a lot faster than just two Lancers.-
• Adaptational Badass: Clem originates as a joke character from a fan comic where he's depicted as a lovable but hopeless Tenno imitator. As an ally he's surprisingly powerful and useful.
• Ascended Extra: DE previously stated in an off-hand Shout-Out that Clem had joined the Steel Meridian as the resident medallion trader. His quest, however, shows him being a contractor for Darvo (though he'll randomly show up in Steel Meridian's room too) and makes Clem much closer to the fan comics instead of just a generic Grineer.
• Badass Adorable: Has only two words to say, is small but strong to match a sizable NPC squad, and his ending pose offers at least a minor glimpse into the antics that got him imprisoned in the first place.
• Badass in Distress: The first mission of his quest has you rescuing him from a Grineer captivity. And while he's not on the same level as the player character, he's more than capable of dispatching enemies you encounter all by himself save for the Grustrag Three members you'll have to face, but that's forgivable.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Clem's a friendly, lovable guy. Good thing he's on the Tenno's side, because with his Twin Grakatas, he's quite a force to be reckoned with.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Read the above quote from Darvo.
• Clone Degeneration: Excluding speech impediment and his small stature, he's one of the few Grineer who invert this. Yes, he is a mistake of the Grineer, a clone race, yet can take on an army and can sponge a lot of damage before being downed.
• Custom Uniform: Has a syandana on the back his suit of armour, a mask slightly crooked to the side, and a Latcher (a rolling robotic grenade) lodged into his pauldron.
• Dangerous Deserter: No matter what else they are doing, Grineer always remind each other to "Get Clem!" This yell is the origin of his name.
• Defector from Decadence: Darvo mentions that once in a while Grineer mess up the cloning process, which results in troopers that aren't too keen on serving the Queens. Clem is one such "mess-up".
• Guns Akimbo: With his signature Twin Grakatas.
• It's Personal: After you retrieve his Grakatas, he asks for your help to get back at the guy who stole them from him — Vem Tabook, the leader of the Grustrag Three.
• Odd Friendship: With Darvo. Despite the fact that the two are Grineer and Corpus (who generally hate each other), Darvo seems to be quite fond of him and is capable of understanding his gibberish. It probably helps that Darvo's often in trouble with the Corpus proper thanks to his shady business schemes.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted - he shares the same name as Steel Meridian's Medallion vendor. The introduction of Kahl-175 implies that Darvo's friend and the Medallion vendor are merely two members of a series a clones named Clem.
• Nice Guy: He's easily the friendliest Grineer in the whole Origin System.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The first thing you will notice about him when you see him in person is that he's tiny. This doesn't stop him from being quite the little powerhouse.
• Pokémon Speak: His vocabulary consists of exactly two words, "Clem" and "Grakata". He uses them to convey any and all of his thoughts, and even his description is simply written as "Clem clem". Darvo understands him just fine.
• Walk It Off: If enemies deplete his health during a mission he will be downed, prompting you to go and revive him like you would do with another player or a kubrow. However if you don't make it in time, he will recover on his own and get back to fighting with a token of health. There is no limit to the number of times this can happen — which gameplay-wise makes Clem effectively immortal.

The Kavor

"Tenno... help us?"

— Kavor Defector

A faction of rogue Grineer introduced in "The Pacifism Defect" event, who serve as the centerpiece for Defection missions. They're pacifists who are attempting to defect from the Grineer military to live peaceful lives... but unfortunately the Tenno tend to them as the last survivors of ships being overrun by the Infestation, who need to be escorted to safety.

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• Actual Pacifist: What they would've been if not for the Infested attacking their ships. The Lotus says that they're too broken to join Steel Meridian, and instead want to get away from violence as a whole and retire to a life of pacifism. It's said by Sargas Ruk that it's a genetic defect, which makes them a target to both Ruk and the Red Veil.
• Badass Pacifist: They want to escape the Grineer war machine and retire peacefully, but they are soon-to-be-ex soldiers, and are encountered fending off a shipboard Zombie Apocalypse. Averted, however, in that they're hoping to retire rather than join the Steel Meridian.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: To some extent: they share the same weathered facial features as regular Grineer, but seem to have much fewer cybernetic limb replacements — notably, they seem to be the only Grineer with intact feet.
• Berserk Button: They are one for Sargas Ruk, who goes out of his way to track them down and eradicate them.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: They're rather openly mistrustful of the Tenno, but it's less hostility and more fear. Considering how the general interactions between Tenno and Grineer tend to go, it's hard to blame them. They do move beyond that if you manage to successfully get them out.
• Escort Mission: The basis of your interaction with them. They can defend themselves to some extent, and the will heal themselves at "healing stations" along their evacuation path... but unlike Rescue targets they do need to be babysat along the way.
• Forced Transformation: Letting a defector run out of health does not kill them, instead they immediately transform into a hostile Infested Charger. You can easily tell these chargers from the rest as they are coloured white, the colour of the Kavor armour.
• In the Blood: Their pacifistic tendencies are explained by a genetic anomaly that is usually curbed out during the cloning process. For this reason, the Red Veil want to kidnap Kavor to figure out how to inflict this pacifism on all Grineer.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Say lines to this effect when close to death.
• Light Is Good: They wear white uniforms, in contrast to the standard Grineer greens and browns.
• Living MacGuffin: The Red Veil consider them this, and will attempt to kidnap them out of Defection missions in the hope that experimenting on them will reveal a way to inflict their pacifism on the Grineer as a whole.
• Reluctant Warrior: They hoped to swear violence off completely after their defection, but are forced to take up arms when the Infestation attacks their ships.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Partially: despite all the work you did to rescue them from the Infested, during the "The Emissary" event, some Kavor are shown among the crowd of Arlo's devotees willingly Infesting themselves... though this may also be a symptom of Only Six Faces, as there are only so many distinct civilian models in the game.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: The Kavor defected from the Grineer service after they could no longer stomach participating in more violence and atrocities, and escaped to live lives of complete peace. Some of their lines during their missions hint that they may be suffering from a form of PTSD, if their pacifism is not an extension of that in the first place.
• Zombie Infectee: There's no indication that they're contagious, but they'll take steady damage over time from the Infested spores on the ship, and if a defector dies during the mission they'll into an Infested Charger.

The Wolf of Saturn Six

When a wolf finds its pack... they hunt.

A Grineer criminal who used to be a prisoner in an impenetrable Grineer supermax penitentiary located within the gaseous atmosphere of Saturn, the eponymous Saturn Six. Used to be - until he and his "pack" managed to break out and escape into the Origin System.

Wolf acts as the focus of the first Nightwave series. In gameplay he serves as a "field boss" akin to the Stalker, Zanuka Hunter etc., having a chance to randomly appear during missions and attack players.

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• The Alcatraz: Saturn Six, located several leagues within Saturn's atmosphere. Prior to Wolf's escape it was considered impenetrable, as no-one ever managed to bust out of it before him.
• Animal Motifs: Take one guess.
• Anti-Villain: He is a dangerous madman rampaging across the system, and even before that he must not have been a nice person either since he'd earned himself a spot in a supermax prison. But the reasons for his breakout and rampage are ultimately noble, as he does it to protect those under him from abuse. Plus, his primary enemies are even worse than him - one is Warden Gharn, the corrupt warden of Saturn Six who sold prisoners to Corpus experiments. The other, who Gharn sold the prisoners to, is Alad V.
• Arc Villain: The titular villain of Nightwave Series 1. He returns in Kahl-175's Break Narmer missions, but his role is greatly diminished, only appearing as the boss of the Prison Break missions.
• Ax-Crazy: He is consistently described as a fearsome and dangerous lunatic. His behavior when you meet him in person matches that description - he does not even talk, only announcing his arrival with an animalistic howl and proceeding to attack everything in sight.
• The Big Guy: He's quite tall, slightly bigger than regular Grineer heavy units like Heavy Gunners and Bombards, and roughly on par with members of the Grustrag Three.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Or, crazier.
  • Late into his story, he is lured into a trap, amalgamated and put under the control of Alad V.
  • It happens to him again after Narmer takes control of the Origin System, this time via a Narmer Veil. Unlike his encounter with Alad V, the Wolf doesn't manage to free himself and Kahl can't save him either.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: The Wolf of Saturn Six is a violent fugitive known for his ferocity and strength rather than cunning intellect, so it is fitting that his weapon of choice would be a large hammer.
• Custom Uniform: Wears a suit of armour unique to him, not seen on any other Grineer.
• The Dog Bites Back: By the finale of his series he somehow breaks free from Alad's control, putting him at his mercy. It's not explained how Wolf managed to do that, but the fact that in the last diorama we see Alad surrounded by Corpus Amalgams as he's groveling before Wolf seems to imply that Wolf somehow managed to gain affinity and control over them, most likely from the mask and Sentients-based chemicals Alad had augmented him with.
• Carry a Big Stick: His Wolf Sledge, a two-handed hammer that has the special trait of always returning to the wielder after being thrown.
• Eyepatch of Power: His helmet leaves one of his eyes exposed while having the other concealed with a black cover, creating this effect.
• A Father to His Men: He is protective of members of his "pack" - in fact, it was eventually revealed that he broke out of Saturn Six not to free himself but to find and liberate his pack members who were sold off to Corpus. Even Warden Gharn dies not to sate a lust for revenge, but to prevent his pack from being sold again.
• Flunky Boss: Initially he attacked players on his own, but as his series progressed and he recovered more of his "pack" he started appearing backed by three other fugitives. Said fugitives are invulnerable until Wolf himself is defeated.
• Great Escape: What he managed to pull off. The details are unknown, but it was most certainly a result of a bloody Prison Riot rather than any cunning scheme.
• Irony: The Wolf of Saturn Six instigated a brutal Prison Riot to escape his prison and rescue his brothers. Narmer later brainwashes him into guarding one of their Murex prison ships, forced to fight Kahl to keep him from rescuing his brothers.
• It's Personal: Seems to have a bone to pick with a certain Gharn - who used to be a warden in Saturn Six, and was selling his prisoners (and Wolf's "pack" members) to the Corpus for their experiments.
• Mercy Kill: Kahl and his rescued squad try to give him one in Veilbreaker. Daughter tries to gently tell Kahl that he can't save everyone before the fight. Kahl's response is that he is saving the Wolf. Unfortunately, he teleports away before Kahl can deal the finishing blow.
• Mighty Glacier: In the final chapters of the Nightwave series focused on him, his damage output is upped considerably after Alad V infects him with Sentient technology, making him much harder to tank.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: We don't know his real name, as he is only ever referred to as Wolf.
• Power Born of Madness: Prior to his escape he was known to be a model prisoner, until something cracked within him. His insanity is his most prominent characteristic, and there's a heavy implication that this insanity was what made him powerful enough to successfully escape.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: His Sledge can also be used like this in spite of being a huge hammer.
• Prisoner's Work: Saturn Six also doubled as an ordnance manufacturing facility, where Wolf and other inmates worked.
• The Slow Walk: Wolf does not run, instead approaching you at a walking pace to cave your head in with his hammer. At best he will break into a slow jog if you move too far away from him, but he rarely does so as he has other means to cross distances anyway...
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: Namely, he has a blitz attack similar to Rhino's charge, where he dashes in a straight line scattering anyone who gets in his way. Using this, he can cross whole rooms in a second.
• Stone Wall: His damage output is (relatively speaking) not that high, but he has a lot of health and armor and is completely immune to status effects. He also has partial immunity to Warframe powers similar to the Stalker. This means that, if he comes for you at a bad time when you don't have powerful enough weapons equipped, you may not die immediately but you won't be able to inflict any meaningful damage on him either, allowing him to simply outlast you.
• Sword Beam: Hammer Beam in his case, as he is capable of launching energy waves with his Sledge similar to Excalibur and Shadow Stalker.
• Tortured Monster: It wasn't easy for the Wolf to start with - Saturn Six was not a nice place - but then he was captured by Alad V and hybridized with Sentient parts, becoming an Amalgam... and then was captured and Veiled by Narmer. Daughter runs down a list of his scanned physiology and reacts in a mix of horror and amazement that the Wolf is somehow still alive after all of his forced modifications.

Kahl-175

"For my brothers."

Voiced by: Adam Bennett

"Brothers dead. Only Kahl one-seven-five."

A Grineer lancer on the Plains of Eidolon when The New War begins.

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• All-Loving Hero: Kahl doesn't want to just save his like-minded brothers from the Narmer, he wants to break every veil. So he doesn't make exceptions even for veiled Corpus or loyalist Grineer like Sprag and Venkra and other troopers who, presumably, return to the service of the Queens once he breaks them out. This alone makes him more compassionate than the Tenno, who don't bother with removing veils and typically just kill Narmer remnants on sight. He's also extending his compassion and emotional support to the Daughter, even if she's all in all rather dismissive about him.
• Arch-Enemy: Since he leads Kahl's Garrison, the main force on anti-Narmer fronts after the New War, that'd make him the most active threat to Pazuul, even if the Tenno pull in more muscle against the Archons and the Lotus acts as a more personal enemy to him, everything Kahl does is to either sabotage Narmer or help the Tenno's more direct operations against them.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Kahl is not afraid to ask one in Veilbreaker introductory mission.
  Kahl-175: (to "Daughter" Entrati) "Blue Girl have brother? Would she leave him to die?"
• A Space Marine Is You: Of a sort; the parts where you play as Kahl are much more grounded in traditional military games than the high-energy and fantastical combat techniques of a Warframe. When playing as Kahl, you are a lowly Grineer ground trooper just like the hundreds you've fought before. All you have is a Grineer Machete, a Grakata submachine gun, some quick-deploying cover, and napalm grenades. You don't have an energy meter, but instead must refill your equipment in the field. Though not an officer, you give simple commands to a squad of fellow grunts. Several of your missions involve hot drops (The New War) or hot evacuations (Veilbreaker) and they never, ever go smoothly.
• Badass Normal: A lowly Grineer Lancer, armed with nothing but a Grakata, some grenades, and a Machete (and later a Corinth Prime) who manages to single-handedly fight his way through multiple squads of Sentients. And, if the Veilbreaker trailer is anything to go by, manages to take down a Tusk Thumper by himself. During the introductory mission he can even heft an entire Grattler or a Kuva Ayanga that's almost as big as he is.
• Bag of Spilling: He starts out every mission at his weakest point, growing in strength as he gathers more weaponry until he's mowing down enemies like blades of grass. And yet, he doesn't seem to keep any of the many guns picks up.
• Band of Brothers: He has this mindset. When a Dargyn crashes near his position, he immediately takes a detour from his objective to try to help the pilot. By the end of his section, after witnessing more than a few fellow Grineer wiped out by the Sentients, his last words before his attempted Heroic Sacrifice aren’t “for the queens” but “for my brothers.”
  • Extends to the point of No One Gets Left Behind during the Veilbreaker introductory mission as Kahl insists on rescuing as many of his brothers as possible, and even crosses factional boundaries as Kahl ends up rescuing a random Corpus trooper (who seems all too happy to follow Kahl's lead) along with a gaggle of regular Grineer soldiers as well. He even renounces his allegiance to the Queens and Vay Hek entirely as they never came to help, instead choosing to throw in with the Tenno.
• BFG: Wields a Corinth during the final part of his segment in "The New War". "Veilbreaker" briefly has him wield a Grattler that is almost as long as he is tall! And he later gets his hands on an Exergis, nevermind the plasma cutter that he uses with Daughter's help to obliterate Narmer Deacons with. Later still, he gets a Kuva Ayanga, which is a Grattler but better! And when you call him down with the Skaut's air support module, he'll come to your aid with a Grattler in hand.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: After Erra interrupted his sacrifice, he was brainwashed by a Narmer Veil. He managed to free himself after the New War, whether through Ballas' death or his own Heroic Willpower.
• Bolivian Army Ending: His attempt at a Heroic Sacrifice is ruined by the sudden arrival of Erra. His final fate is currently unknown, but given that he's last seen surrounded by Sentients with no backup coming, it's unlikely to be positive. Tennocon 2022 reveals he survived, but Erra forced a Narmer Veil to his face, enslaving him until Ballas was killed.
• Bottomless Magazines: In Veilbreaker, Kahl has infinite ammo for any weapon he uses.
• Breakout Mook Character: To Warframe's Mascot Mook, the Grineer Lancer. Kahl is a Grineer Lancer Eximus whose only exceptional qualities are his resourcefulness in combat and his loyalty to his brother Grineer. He makes both qualities count when he finds himself caught in the middle of the Sentient invasion of Earth. Further solidified when he proved popular enough with the playerbase to make a return during Veilbreaker.
• Broken Faceplate: His mask is partially shattered during "The New War", and he eventually removes it after an explosion.
• Catchphrase: "Kahl not afraid." And it's no overstatement: he is utterly fearless in undertaking his missions. He doesn't quail when confronted with hordes of Sentients that have single handedly wiped out entire Grineer platoons—he just hunkers down and starts tearing into them with his assault rifle, grenades, and machete. Daughter initially assumes that the reason he went rogue from the Queens was that he had developed a fear of death, only to be completely shut down when he responds that he was tired of him and his brothers being used by their Queens, only able to quietly note that what he developed was dignity.
• Defector from Decadence: He does not return to the service to the Queens once he loses his Veil, instead choosing to fight for himself and his brothers.
• Deployable Cover: Can deploy a blunt to help him avoid taking damage.
• Determinator: Fights through a Sentient invasion with his modest weapons and primitive armor by sheer force-of-will and dedication to his fellow clones. Heavily implied to have blown up a Condrix single-handedly, and the trailer for Veilbreaker suggests he will be able to solo Tusk Thumpers.
  "Kahl. Not. Afraid."
• Due to the Dead: A regular side-objective in the Break Narmer missions involves Kahl collecting genestamps (the Grineer equivalent to military dog tags) from his fallen brothers, which is usually accompanied by Kahl giving them his respects. Visiting him in his camp shows that he puts them on a stand next to him, that way he can always remember them.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Kahl calls Chipper "like Grineer, but less smart" when the latter joins Kahl's Garrison. While Chipper is likely smarter than Kahl, the fact that Chipper did all of his cybernetics unassisted implies that Kahl at least has more common sense than Chipper.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: When he begins the last charge to the Condrix alongside a force of other Grineer, an explosion knocks them all down and blows his trusty Grakata out of his hands. Scrambling to find a weapon to protect himself from an approaching Conculyst, he suddenly gets his hands on a Corinth Prime, which can easily one-shot pretty much every Sentient that gets in his path. The final portion of his segment in the "Veilbreaker" quest, meanwhile, has him salvage a Grattler from a crashed dropship and use it to mow down sentients with impunity. This actually seems to be a theme with him - the final portion of all his missions has him pick up a ranged weapon that allows him to utterly shred enemies to pieces.
• Eye Scream: The crash that wipes out his squad damages his artificial eye, leaving it dangling by its wires from his faceplate. When he eventually removes his faceplate the eye goes with it, leaving an empty socket.
• Eyepatch of Power: Kahl can get a roguish eyepatch as a customization option in the camp once you've completed the Veilbreaker intro mission, to cover up the aforementioned Eye Scream.
• Face Death with Dignity: When he's about to blow himself up along with the Condrix, he just smiles and says "For my brothers".
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Of the three new player characters introduced in "The New War", Kahl is the thief - while he has the most health (and likely the highest armor) between himself, Veso, and Teshin, he lacks both shields and Teshin's ability to block attacks, and his abilities focus on cutting down on the number of enemies attacking him (by using grenades to wipe out groups of foes) or avoiding damage (by deploying a blunt). He also appears to be faster than Veso, but slower than Teshin. Further emphasized in his Break Narmer missions, where he’s encouraged to use stealth to complete his objectives and eliminate powerful enemies via environmental hazards rather than blades and bullets.
• Friendly Sniper: He's also fairly handy with a sniper rifle, as shown in at least one Break Narmer mission side-objective where he picks one up to engage Ven'kra.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Implied - his personal machete, the Slaytra is implied to be something he designed himself, while his Veilbreaker gauntlet is explicitly stated to be self-made.
• Genius Bruiser: Played with. Kahl has a basic understanding of science, but has nowhere near the knowledge of someone like Daughter. Where he fits this trope is in regard to his emotional knowledge. Kahl not only shows a surprising depth of character, he’s also very good at understanding the motivations of other characters. In his conversations with Daughter, he’s able to shoot out armor-piercing questions and responses almost as fast as his Grakata.
• Grenade Spam: Unlike the Tenno, Kahl can throw contact detonated grenades to eliminate grouped enemies.
• Heroes Gone Fishing: He treats the Tenno as a guest and friend whenever they come to his camp, and although it's not shown whether or not they take him up on any of his offers he sometimes asks if they'd like some Kuaka stew or to go fishing later.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a bit brusque to Daughter Entrati, as she tends to look down on him as a "vat rat" and "filthy clone," but Kahl is at heart a heroic character, completely dedicated to saving his fellow Grineer clones (and indeed, anyone who was abandoned by their leaders). He is also surprisingly fond of and friendly to the Tenno, suggesting they go fishing together and offering a helping of the local camp stew while cooking.
• Heel–Face Turn: He officially turns against the Grineer and allies with the Tenno in Veilbreaker, correctly pointing out that it was the Tenno who actually came to his and his squad's rescue while the Grineer left them to die.
• Hero of Another Story: Kahl has much less focus than the Operator and the Drifter, but his playable sections in "Break Narmer" make it clear he goes on his own adventures that are just as crazy as the rest of the player characters.
• Hidden Depths: Kahl may be a Kindhearted Simpleton but his broken speech and naivety belie the fact that he's not quite as dumb as one may assume - Kahl is a good tactician who thinks well on his feet, he's capapble of figuring out how to operate Narmer machinery, how to make his own purpose-built gadgets out of standard Grineer equipment, and his emotional intelligence is definitely quite high.
• Hulk Speak: As a representation of Kahl's mental impairment from Clone Degradation, Kahl has this method of speaking. All of his objectives are pretty Hulk Speak-y too, e.g. Get Gun, Shoot Big Gun, Expose Node Thing.
• Kill It with Fire: Has napalm grenades as a secondary weapon option, which do a pretty good job melting Sentients. Napalm grenades are not standard kit for Lancers, but are for Napalms, implying that he's normally an Arson Eximus (the only Eximus type shared between the two unit classes).
• Kindhearted Simpleton: With the "Simpleton" part downplayed - he's not book smart and Grineer Clone Degradation have imapired his mental functions, but, as the Hidden Depths entry shows, he's smarter than he looks. His kindness and compassion, however, are unqestionable.
• Machete Mayhem: Kahl's default melee weapon; in The New War he starts off with a regular Grineer Machete...as of Veilbreaker, he gets the Slaytra.
• Mook Lieutenant: While never noted, his special armor pattern indicates he's an Eximus-type lancer. Implicitly, this is why he uses a Machete as a melee weapon rather than a Sheev.
• More Dakka: He starts out with a Grakata with an extended magazine, and uses it for his first two gameplay sections.
• The Musketeer: Wields a firearm and a machete in tandem. At first, he uses a Grakata and standard Machete, but later upgrades his melee weapon to the Slaytra, and depending on the mission he can gain various different alternate guns such as a Corinth Prime, Exergis, or Kuva Ayanga.
• Not So Above It All: One camp discussion has him drag Daughter into the time-honored soldier tradition of storytelling, specifically the "worst fight you were in" category. Daughter hesitantly admits to chopping off Father's arm. Kahl's response is an appreciative, almost childlike "Cooool!"
  • At another point, Kahl will happily gush over receiving an Infested fish from Daughter, proudly declaring it 'very ugly' and how much he loves it.
  • A return mission to the Murex has a secondary objective of recovering Kahl's prized possession, thought lost after his first rescue attempt. What is so important that finding it merits a generous sum of Stock resources? Kahl's plush toy, shaped like a small chubby rodent.
• Painting the Medium: When playing as Kahl, the Heads-Up Display has all icons colored yellow and with a slightly grainy filter in order to convey the lower tech-level of the Grineer.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Kahl is a tough-as-nails Grineer trooper who has a floof he likes to play with (recovering it is a possible challenge for one of his missions). And even more literally, using his customisation you can have Kahl go into battle in a pastel pink suit of armour.
• Removable Turret Gun: In Veilbreaker, he mans a Grattler mounted on a Grineer Drophip as he and his brothers are trying to escape in. The ship crashes but Kahl is able to salvage the Grattler to use on foot.
• Scarred Equipment: His armor shows severe damage, with a nasty gash on his backplate being the most visible. While his Grakata works fine, it is also in noticeably worse physical condition than the ones that the Tenno can build, though considering Kahl was holding it the first time he was blown up that's to be expected.
• Sole Survivor: His squad gets totally wiped out during the opening shots of the New War.
• Senseless Sacrifice: He goes on a suicide mission to blow up a Condrix and let his brothers evacuate... only for Erra's presence to shut down the bomb, with Kahl later turning out alive.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Later on, he manages to get his hands on a Corinth Prime. A close examination of the scene where he acquires it reveals that he pulled the gun off of a downed Rhino.
  • Later in the "Sneaky Sabotage" Veilbreaker mission, he gets his hands on Exergis, much to his delight. He seems to have an affinity for shotguns.
• Stealth-Based Mission: Has to avoid Sentient searchlights while searching for a bomb. Later, on in "Sneaky Sabotage," he has to sneak through a Narmer Veil production facility full of Deacons, although once Daughter is able to sabotage the veils he immediately picks up an Exergis and a target marker for a Kill Sat.

"Kahl sneak good."

• Smarter Than You Look: Despite not seeming like anything special, as Daughter herself notes, Kahl is pretty intuitive, understands the necessity of stealth (even if he doesn't like it) and can be a pretty effective commander.
• Suddenly Voiced: He is the first non-boss Grineer that speaks understandable English.
• Uncertain Doom: Examining Kahl's trail on the post-New War Plains of Eidolon reveals that the Condrix he was trying to destroy has fallen, with a noticeable crater at its base and a pool of blood nearby, but no sign of Kahl Veilbreaker reveals that he survived, but got a Narmer veil slapped on his face in the process. He eventually manages to break free of its control, though.
• Undying Loyalty: Not to the queens, but to his brothers. He outright rebels against the queens to fight Narmer's remnants and free his brothers still under Pazuul's thrall.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: He's the playable character for portions of "The New War", and the new Veilbreaker content. His gameplay is more grounded than that of the Tenno, with his usage of his grenades and his blunt bringing to mind Gears of War (or darkSector). In Veilbreaker he also gains limited command abilities to direct his teammates to perform simple tasks (hold an area, attack a specific target, interact with a specific thing) similar to the abilities Veso had.
• Weak, but Skilled: Even more than the Tenno, Kahl has a measly 1000 health, a very limited arsenal, a few grenades and a veilbreaker, but he pulls off feats that no one would expect a Grineer to ever do.
• You Are Number 6: Since Kahl is just a lowly Grineer Lancer Eximus, he is presumably one of hundreds of Grineer with the name 'Kahl'. Confirmed during the Veilbreaker intro mission, as you find another Kahl with a different number.
• You No Take Candle: His grammar is a bit broken, and he has a habit of referring to himself with Third-Person Person.

Garv

Garv

"Grineer live, Infested die. A GOOD day."

A Grineer squad leader who appears with his squad in the Cambion Drift. He challenges the player to a wager to see who can kill the most Infested.

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• Badass Normal: A normal Grineer marine, who just happens to be enough of a badass to turn what would normally be an Escort Mission into a Body-Count Competition
• Body-Count Competition: Challenges the player to one in his bounty phases. It can be surprisingly tough depending on your loadout.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: Uses an Ignis flamethrower. It's very effective against the Infested, which are vulnerable to fire.
• Friendly Enemy: He's still a Grineer, but will challenge you to a friendly Body-Count Competition and potentially aid you afterwards.
• Hulk Speak: Much like Kahl above
• Made of Iron: His health is extremely high, to the point where it's extremely unlikely for him to die in his bounty phases.
• Suddenly Voiced: One of the few non-boss Grineer to speak understandable English.

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